Drowning in the Shallows
by knives4cash
Summary: Clarissa was thrown into a spiraling adventure when Leave Became Possible. Author's Note: I wanted to see what kind of adventure Clarissa could go on, when she's not demonstrating the force of gravity, perching on lamp posts, or breaking into people's houses.
1. Chapter One: Operation Fall Weiss

The night had been cool and calm, with a big, bright fire giving Clarissa all the warmth she could ever want. In her left hand, she had a beer; and in her right, she had a lighter. It was a parody of an old Vietnam War lighter, a gag gift from her deceased lover. She stared down at it aimlessly. _"I fear no evil. My GF is the baddest motherfucker in the valley,"_ had been printed on the side, with a hilarious set of crossbones over a skull. She rolled her eyes, recalling Michael's deep, throaty laugh when she read it out loud at the unwrapping. A smile crept up on her lips. She wished the warmth from the fire felt more like his big, bony arms embracing her. The smile fell off; she remembered that he had been on this very same beach.

She came back to reality when the new, cute boy blew a big puff of smoke into the night sky. "So, Alex's turn?" he asked, to which Ren annoyingly confirmed that it was, indeed, the girl's turn.

Slouching, Clarissa glanced up at Nona, but saw that her friend was looking at her already, so she awkwardly pulled her eyes back to her lighter. She knew she'd figure out how to sidle in between Alex and her new step-brother, steal him away from her too. Offering him a light would be a smooth way to do it.

"Clarissa," Alex boldly started.

She looked up. Alex was sitting across from her, so from Clarissa's perspective the girl was drowning in fire. Smiling, she perked up and asked ever so sweetly, "Yes, mum?"

Alex could do anything she wanted, Clarissa had already learned. The girl could be quiet, get someone to spill beans on their own; she could be direct, ask the questions that needed to be answered; she could even be mean, force someone to do something to help her or the "team".

But Clarissa didn't expect or know how to respond to "Did you and Michael ever have any plans?"

"We planned to rip your head off and throw it in your face," was what Clarissa would have said, but she knew it would have pissed off Nona for the whole night. Instead, Clarissa played for time. It had been a while since she'd had a smoke. Nona wasn't fond of the stench, so she'd taken one while Nona had set up their beach camp. Thinking on Alex's question, she pulled out her packet. "Plans for what, exactly? Cause, honestly, I have no idea what you're-"

"Plans for the future, as couples tend to make," Alex cooley replied. If Clarissa didn't know any better, she'd say that the girl was bored.

This prompted Clarissa to reason that the snarky little twerp knew exactly what they had planned. Cursing herself, Clarissa wondered why she had poured her heart and soul out to Michael, when she knew that he would just relay everything to his sister. Taking a breath, she pulled out a cigarette and held it to the fire just long enough to ignite.

"We planned to invade Russia, but we didn't pack enough oil," Clarissa shot back, as dry as the crackers she always chewed on with her mouth wide open. Only when Alex sat with her and Michael at their lunch table did she resort to such petty tactics of wearing down the girl's nerves. Confident in her abilities to tackle the girl, she lit up, filling her lungs with that sweet, cancerous nicotine. "Darn shame too. We had the strength to fight, but not enough to win."

Scoffing, Alex shot back, "I didn't know you actually paid attention in history class."

"Oh!" Clarissa perked up, raring to go. "You want to talk about paying attention? Being aware of your surroundings? Maybe even acting on them?" Ren and Jonas tried to diffuse the growing tension, but Clarissa never backed down and pushed. Onward to Moscow, she thought as she took a satisfying drag of her cigarette. "It's my turn to ask a question!" she let everyone know, a smirk growing on her face. Staring across the fire, she looked Alex right in the eye, took a long drag, and demanded, "Alex. Why did your parents get a divorce?"

Frowning, Alex stood her ground, jaw fidgeting side-to-side. Lips scrunched, she racked her brain for a comeback. "Go to Hell," was all she could manage.

"Who's going to Hell?" Clarissa was all too happy to regain the strategic initiative, blowing a wonderful cloud of smoke into the sky. "No, I don't think either of your parents died, Alex. Even if anyone in your family died, they wouldn't have gone to Hell. Only terrible people with terrible sins go to Hell. Alex. Now, if you're not going to answer tru-"

Alex shouted back, "You know damn well-!"

"-Truthfully!" Clarissa yelled louder, heart racing as she was finally on top again. "I get to slap you!"

Alex marched right on over to Clarissa and spat in her face.

Flinching, Clarissa swung her hand right into Alex's cheek, cigarette flying out and snuffing in the sand. The smack went out across the island, and Alex held a devious grin through it. Both her cheek, and Clarissa's hand were sore and stinging, but both also felt that they had achieved some sense of a victory over the other; though, they both knew the other too well to think that it was and end to things between them. As satisfying as it was in the moment, Clarissa wished she hadn't wasted half a cigarette for it.

The impending brawl was cut short as the gang split up, leaving her alone with her last, true friend.

She watched as Jonas hopped the fence after Alex.

"I hate her so much," Clarissa huffed into her beer can, taking a much-needed swig to quench her thirst and cool her rage. Though, in reality, more beer was the last thing she needed.

"Clarissa," Nona sighed, head in hand. It hadn't been the first time Clarissa had destroyed a social circle and was content to sit in the wreckage. Nona always had to make the best of it, but tonight had been her one social activity she had been looking forward towards.

Ignoring her friend, Clarissa pushed, "Why didn't she just get speared on that fence post?"

"Clarissa! Stop it!" Nona nearly shouted at her, more exasperated than angry. "You don't mean things like tha-"

Redirecting her anger towards Nona, Clarissa demanded, "Don't tell me what I me-"

Nona re-interrupted, "Don't tell me what to do either! I chose to stay with you!" Glaring back at Clarissa, Nona tried to be angry about it, but she just wanted to have a good night with her friend. Going soft, she said more quietly, "So the least you can do is act like decent company."

The two fell silent. The roaring fire died down a bit. Finally, Clarissa acknowledged, "I'm sorry. I can't keep my composure around that girl, and I should have just walked away when I saw her coming down the cliffside." Her beer was not wide, tall, or strong enough for her, and she emptied it with a grumble. "Every time I see her... I just wish I could go back."

Resting her head in her hands, Nona wondered, "You have the rest of your life to do anything. Are you going to waste it all on hating Alex?"

Frowning, Clarissa shot back, "You wanna keep going in circles? God only knows how much complaining I've done. Let's just change the subject." Irritated by everything in life, Clarissa suddenly wanted another cigarette, if only to finish her smoke break from earlier.

"Sure," Nona agreed, some cheer returning to her tone. "I have a question. What do you think of Ren?"

Scoffing, Clarissa confidently explained to her friend, "Nona, you could get a woman who's twice the man he'll ever be in your sleep!" Warmed by her laughter, she went on, "You could have your pick of any man in all the land, any woman from Heaven and earth. You'd just have to shake Heaven a bit to knock some of the angels out, first."

"You must want him all to yourself," Nona theorized with a laugh. "It's not everyday someone likes me. I'm not getting any younger. Maybe I should go kiss him _right now_ ," she teased.

Rolling her eyes, Clarissa melodramatically tossed her hand to the wind. "Far be it for me to decide who you fall in love with, Nona," she decided, blessing the girl's foolish desires.

Head drooping, Nona's laugh died off as she agreed, "Yeah. I guess it wasn't your decision."

The two sat in silence for a few more minutes. Clarissa just wanted to take in the beautify of Mother Nature. It was almost a perfect night; the moon was coming out, the stars were waking up, that chilly wind massaged her face as it swept by every once in a while, and best of all: Clarissa was accompanied by her favorite, best, and last friend. Sighing, Clarissa was content to watch the horizon as the tide swayed back and forth.

"Okay," Nona decided, swirling her beer can before looking up. "Um, new question. Why are there lights coming out of the cave?"


	2. Chapter Two: Operation Weserubung

The night had been cool and calm, but now it was burning hot and horribly bright. Red coated the inside of Clarissa's eyes; they were closed, but it felt like she was shoving her face into some burning coals, or the sun itself. It would have explained the aching her body was going through. Taking a deep breath, she smelled the aroma of salt water, and she dared to crack her eyes open. The burning hot, summer sun glared down on her. Her skin was ablaze through her jacket, which was now roasting her like a turkey.

Sitting up, Clarissa figured out the burning sensation: she was sitting on concrete, in the middle of a summer's day. Grunting and grumbling, she crawled out of the sun, burning her hands on the sidewalk. Conveniently for her, she was right next to the tunnel that connected to Beacon Beach. The shade it offered let her catch her breath and cool off. Looking down at her hands, Clarissa knew she would get a nasty sunburn from whatever she had just gone through. She clearly had a lot to do, but at the very least the task before her was new.

"What just happened? And why do I know that it's all Alex's fault?" she huffed. "And furthermore, how am I going to make her pay?" she added with a scrunched smirk. Looking out into the ocean, she recognized the parking lot in which she had been napping. She almost didn't. The cement was covered in trash. Empty bottles, used cigarettes, and plenty of food that the seagulls swooped down to feast upon.

"Thanks, Edward," she huffed at the island. "Can't wait for you to get swallowed up by global warming's rising tides. Drown the rest of my memories, please."

Clarissa was content to sit by herself for a bit, before she finally remembered that Nona had been at her side when the lights exploded. Pulling out her phone, she cursed her luck at having no signal. With no charger, and just sixty-five percent battery life, she decided to just go on foot. She had waited a bit; any adrenaline that was keeping any pain at bay would have worn off by now, she figured. Deciding she was fit to walk, Clarissa hopped to it. She decided she'd take the long way. Clarissa not only wanted more time to avoid talking to Nona and the others, but she wanted to soak up the sun on her own terms.

The seagulls ignored her as she walked by. She climbed the meandering stairway, but stopped halfway up Main Street. Looking back, she gazed into the parking lot. Four cars sat in a neat, little row, but they were all similar in style: that old, vintage, Ford Model T kinda car. The kind she and Michael joked about making out in whenever they saw one on an old timey movie. "With no dampeners on the frame, we'd make that thing rock like a boat," she'd whisper into Michael's ear, as her hands would wander under the blanket.

Swallowing hard, Clarissa took a satisfying breath and turned back to her march up the island. She had to stop again when she got to the shops. She realized that the statue was gone. Looking back, sure enough, Clarissa saw no statue honoring the dead navy dudes. She figured she would have to ask one of the employees about it.

Clarissa ducked into the shops, only to find them empty. She didn't know what she was looking for in an answer, but she knew she didn't want to be so eerily alone. If there were four cars down there, then four people were somewhere on the island. Five. Nona was somewhere on the island too.

"Can't forget my partner-in-crime," Clarissa tried to chuckle to herself. She couldn't hide it; she was starting to get scared. "I'll find more people topside than in the service tunnel. Better just keep going."

Hustling up the island further, she hopped the fence and made her way back down to the beach, which -much to her surprise- was populated with people, but they were all dressed in long sleeves and other whacky swimsuits, again like the old timey movies. Men were muscular, women were hyper-conservative, it was like she was actually back in time.

"That's stupid," Clarissa told herself. But she was remembering that it was a hot summer's day, and she was dressed for Thanksgiving Break, so she shed her jacket, just to make the walk easier. Tying the jacket around her waist, she waded through the crowd. "Nona! Nona, where are you and your scathingly bad puns?!" she called out, again and again with varying degrees of humor. On the plus side, no one in the crowd of bustling, happy people were named Nona, so there was no awkward incident of someone else answering her call.

Oddly enough, they didn't care that she was shouting at all, nor did they think it odd of her to be wearing strange clothes.

Clarissa went on her way. "Small island, I'm fine, this is fine." Up the stairs, she climbed to the top of the Adler Estate. Lo and behold, it had a "For Sale" sign with another one taped over it: Sold!

Clarissa had to give herself something to laugh at. "I guess I'm 'sold' on the idea of trespassing," she told herself, mustering a chuckle. With the sun bearing down on her, she figured she'd help herself to a glass of water, at the very least. She could catch her breath, cool off, and maybe run into Nona. Somehow, she hoped.

Waltzing through the open gate, she strolled along the wooden walkways and went right up to the front door, only to discover that it had been locked, which made sense to her in hindsight. Nobody leaves their front door unlocked, but she had also grown up a clever child. Everybody leaves their kitchen window unlocked. What if you burn something? Gotta get rid of the odor fast.

Stopping at the kitchen window, she untied her jacket and put it back on to make crawling through the window easier. With a few grunts and some maneuvering, she made her way into the estate and quenched her thirst with a fancy champagne glass filled with tap water. Seeing as she was alone, Clarissa popped the old-timey fridge open, just to check its authenticity. Sure enough, it had an old-timey ice box built into it, with old-timey ice cubes, and come to think of it the tap water tasted off, as if the Environmental Protection Agency wasn't regulating it. Placing the champagne glass back on the drying rack, Clarissa grabbed a coke from the fridge and shut the door, almost slamming it out of frustration. The fridge door rattled the whole container's contents, sending tinkling sounds throughout the entire house. Popping the lid, she tasted the fizzy drink; it was off. It was better, but it was off. She turned to the kitchen's island and set the bottle down.

Clarissa never thought she'd be staring at someone else's coke bottle in their kitchen, but here she was, wondering why the heck it looked like an old timey coke, tasted like an old timey coke, and was stored in an old timey kitchen.

She heard thudding, lots of thudding, coming from upstairs. Clarissa's heart dropped out her butt, and she froze like a deer in headlights. There was more, rapid thudding coming down the stairs, and a short woman in a bathrobe, with her long, black hair strewn about her in a mess, came barrelling into the kitchen with an M1 Garand hoisted at her shoulder. She had the business end pointed right at Clarissa's stomach.

Clarissa screamed, throwing her hands into the sky. "I'm so sorry! I was just thirsty and couldn't find my friend and I'm so sorry I'll leave right now! Canyoujustputthegundown?!"

The woman glared at her, but she did end up lowering her rifle. Unamused, she just stared at Clarissa's chest, though she didn't see Clarissa as a threat.

"I'm so so so sorry," Clarissa offered up yet again. "I was just really hot and thirsty and-"

"I don't hear any shooting!" Came a calm, sweet British voice from the stairwell beyond the kitchen, sing-songing in satisfaction.

Scoffing, the near-naked woman lowered her rifle completely. "That's 'cause there ain't nothin' to shoot at!" she yelled back.

A second woman, this one a foot taller and completely naked came strolling into the kitchen, her curly, messy blonde hair bouncing like a trampoline with each step. Towering over the armed woman, she bent down and kissed the top of her head. "Perhaps you could take aim at your dangling preposition in your sentence? It certainly needs to be removed."

Huffing, the armed lady marched right over to Clarissa. The girl flinched, only thinking of all the terrible things the woman with the rifle was going to do to her in reprisal for breaking-and-entering. Instead, she felt extremely fuzzy. She opened her eyes, and saw the naked woman with the blonde hair again, so she turned around, sputtering apologies but also trying to compliment the blonde on her amazing figure.

But as she turned, she saw that the armed lady with the black hair was behind her all of a sudden.

Clarissa was so stunned that she didn't even flinch when the lady tossed her rifle into the air, almost smacking Clarissa in the face.

Only, it didn't hurt. The M1 Garand went right through her, and when Clarissa turned back around she saw that the blonde lady was holding it. She not only caught it, she pulled the bolt back, and popped the clip out of the chamber with a _KA-PING!_

"I swear, Mags, you should have enlisted with the Marines. Would you really have shot someone just now? I dare say your bloodthirsty attitude has gone to waste," the blonde lady drawled as she placed the clip on the kitchen island and let the rifle bolt slam back into place with a _KA-CHUNK!_ "And for that matter, who would have even been your adversary?"

She then set the rifle down on the island, but it didn't knock over the coke bottle Clarissa had set down. Instead, it phased through the bottle, as if Clarissa had turned on the console command 'no-clip'.

"Someone who ain't as wordy as you, Annie," the black-haired lady huffed as she slammed the window shut and firmly locked it. "Might not have been a Jap or a Gerry, but I reckon I'd have had some sharp words for the kid who reckoned he'd help 'imself t' a refreshment o' mine," she grunted as she returned to Annie.

Clarissa felt extremely fuzzy when the black-haired lady walked back through her again. After the third time, that snapped Clarissa out of her thoughtless trance.

The two embraced and shared a long, loving kiss. Though, the blonde lady had to awkwardly bend down to kiss the shorter, feistier woman.

"Hello?" Clarissa asked, brave enough to gaze upon the beautiful pair without getting shot. Even though she had just had plenty of water, her throat was as dry as the desert. "Maggie Adler?"

"If it was not one of the many children roaming about on their vacation, perhaps it was Rommel," the taller lady, Annie, joked, much to the frustration of the shorter and angrier Mags. "Oh yes, I'm sure he was simply looking to quench his thirst. You know, I hear it's quite hot in one of those Panzers, especially in the Libyan desert!" she continued with a laugh.

Shaking her head, the shorter lady ran her hand through her hair, the sun glancing off her wedding ring and right into Clarissa's eyes. "I swear, Annie, you're aimin' ta make me miserable."

Hugging her feisty companion, the taller lady ignored the initial struggle and continued to mesh the woman's face into her bosom. "Perhaps I do aim, Mags, but I dare say you shall outlive me. Should Death ever find His way into your home, you'll simply shoot Him, won't you. Your enterprising self has surely developed such elaborate strategies?" she teased, emphasizing the question with a kiss on the lips.

"I ain't makin' love to you no more," Mags shot back, breaking the embrace and grabbing her gear off the kitchen island. She made an attempt at marching past Annie, but the taller woman gave chase.

"I outrank you!" Annie laughed as she chased Mags upstairs.

While she thought it had been an odd, yet charming, relationship, Clarissa had to come to accept that she was basically invisible to the world around her. She went into the family room and sat down on the sofa, wondering just what had gone so wrong in her life that she found herself invading someone else's home, turning invisible, and listening to ferocious lesbian sex coming from upstairs.

Michael had forced Clarissa to acknowledge that, one day, porn stars would be dead, and people would be watching dead people performing on camera; however, she decided that listening to a woman, who supposedly died three days ago, have amazing sex was not as weird as it was just bitter sweet.

She didn't have to think about it for too long. The long march she'd made, the blazing heat, the adrenaline dying down, Clarissa saved herself from having a breakdown on the whole time-traveling thing by falling into a trance, or a slumber, or something like that. A warm, heavy blanket fell over her. Not literally, but Clarissa felt like she was ready to sleep. It was an odd dream, in which she helped Alex play "I Spy".


	3. Chapter Three: Operation Fall Gelb

"The kitchen window was open," Clarissa dryly explained to the gang that had suddenly surrounded her. As her senses finally returned to normal, she saw that Alex, Jonas, and Nona were all around her like puppies to their mama. Looking down at herself, she held her beloved lighter in her right hand, and an old photograph in her left. A young Maggie Adler and Annie tinkering with some mechanical/electrical box. Maggie held a flashlight, while Annie did the actual work. It reminded Clarissa of too many group projects.

Alex approached her after a few moments. "Do you know who they are?" she wondered, no malice or wit in her tone.

"How should I know?" Clarissa blurted out without thinking. "I mean, one of them has to be Maggie Adler, right? I don't know, Alex," she sighed. Exhausted, sweaty, throat parched, she popped the picture frame open and nearly tore the picture apart trying to get it out of its holding pad. Looking on the back, she read aloud, "February 23, 1951. Maggie Adler... and Anna Shea." Trailing off at the end, Clarissa felt a slight shiver as she tossed the photograph onto the couch.

"Cool," Alex awkwardly complimented. Hands behind her back, she scraped some sand off the bottom of her shoe as she swiveled it around on the carpet. "They're awfully cute together."

Sighing, Clarissa looked Alex in the eye. "Can we do this another time? I'm really not in the mood to deal with you after tonight."

"Neither am I," Alex shot back, tired but bored. "I just want to get through this part, but we can at least avoid fighting each other this time."

"Oh, you wanna get along? Here's a tip. Don't go spitting in my face," Clarissa snidely remembered. Hopping off the couch, she decided that she'd help herself to some dead person's food.

Sighing in exasperation, Alex threw her hands into the air as she went back upstairs. "When did I ever spit in your face, Clarissa?!"

Knuckles clenching white, Clarissa nearly screamed, "I told you! I'm not in the mood to deal with you, Alex!" She focused her anger on making the best sandwich-burrito-burger she could manage. She was even feeling nice-ish and was going to compliment the girl on her shorter hairstyle, but that went out the window with her good will. And after that, she was going to have a long, satisfying cigarette to end her meal. Not because she needed it, but because she wanted it really badly.

She found a comically large loaf of French bread, which she took a knife to and made a tunnel through its entire length, careful to leave two-ish inches at the far side. With the massive cavern in the bread, she assembled her main ingredients. Leftover steak, cold chili, and chopped up hot dog bits served as the main course; and it was all accompanied by varying sizes of sharp cheddar cheese, lettuce, tomato slices, and sprinkles of onion like it was snowing.

She shoved the cut-out pieces of bread back into the top, making a giant edible thermos. Taking advantage of the empty kitchen, Clarissa found a suitable frying pan to hold the bread, mostly. Setting the burner on maximum heat, she planned to quickly toast it all.

Nona came in, a tired smile on her face. "I heard you yelling."

"It's what I'm good at," Clarissa acknowledged as she let the sandwich cook on the pan. She raised her hands out to Nona, who did the same. The two met and, after what had felt like an eternity, embraced. Both had gotten used to the height difference long ago.

"Comfy?" Clarissa joked as she puffed her chest out to emphasize the pillows Nona always got to have in their hugs.

Giggling, Nona nodded. "Feels like I haven't seen you in ages. I didn't even know if I'd see you again at all."

"I'm not that easy to get rid of," Clarissa reminded her good friend. "Buuut, you can help me get rid of this masterpiece I just made." Motioning to her beautiful sandwich getting toasted, she took Nona's hand into her own and gently tugged her along to the kitchen island. "I'd eat it all myself, but my sexy figure is like one of five things I have going for me."

"Only five?" Nona scoffed as she bent down to smell the toasting bread. With a smile growing on her face, she looked back at Clarissa. "What could the mighty Clarissa have going for her?"

Shrugging her shoulders, Clarissa let go of Nona's hand and stretched. Yawning, she decided, "My intelligence, charisma, agility-"

"You're just quoting video game stats," Nona called her out, playfully punching her in the arm.

Chuckling, Clarissa bowed before Nona. "You caught me. I feel like I haven't eaten in ages, though, so let's eat. I think this is done, and I don't care if it's not," she firmly switched topics as she shut off the burner.

"I feel like I haven't seen you in ages," Nona both admitted and repeated as Clarissa carefully touched the sandwich, testing its temperature for holding purposes. "We were on the beach, and then you were gone. I was alone," she trailed off, sorrow creeping into her tone.

Tearing into her sandwich, Clarissa took a few hearty bites, mixing toasted bread with the heated internal components. She would have killed Alex for some salt. Or some paprika. Though her mouth was full, Clarissa wondered, "Didn't I... didn't we see each other in town?"

Nona looked at her in confusion. "I never went into town."

Shaking her head, Clarissa reiterated, "No. We were in town." Shoving the sandwich into Nona's hands, she swallowed hard and wiped her mouth across her sleeve. "Here, try it. I think the cheese really pulls it all together, but it could use some extra punch. But no, we were totally in town, I remember it. We were playing 'Truth or Slap', and I-"

Nona, with her mouth full, pulled the sandwich away from her lips. Shaking her head, she explained, "We did it on-"

"Yeah, yeah, we did the game on the beach," Clarissa acknowledged. "But we also- but we did it twice?" Pausing, Clarissa ran a hand through her hair and exhaled hard. "That doesn't make sense. But I remember..."

There was a long pause between the two.

Nona finally asked meekly, "Clarissa? Are you okay?"

Slowly nodding, Clarissa answered, "I think so... but I'm trying to remember stuff... I need you to answer this question I have, and I need you to do it without thinking about it, okay?"

Without realizing it, Nona started to hold her breath. She nodded anyways.

Taking a deep breath, Clarissa thought it through. Looking Nona in the eye, she asked, "What's my dog's name?"

"Charlie..." Nona nearly whispered. She tried to turn her head away, but her eyes were still locked on Clarissa.

Clarissa hadn't noticed. She was racking her brain. She could have sworn it was Chopper. She figured she should ask for more details.

"You haven't called me by my name," Nona meekly mentioned.

"Nona," Clarissa fired back without hesitation. Clutching Nona by the shoulders, she stared the shorter girl down. "You are Nona, my best friend, my only friend, and I'd hug you if you weren't holding my sandwich right now."

Smiling, Nona took another bite. "Yeah, about that," she said as she chewed with her mouth covered tactfully by the remaining part of the sandwich. "I think it needs less onion."

"No!" Clarissa gawked, aggressively rubbing her hands up and down Nona's arms. Grinning, she demanded, "It needs more onion, if anything!"

They shared a smile and a laugh, only for their tender moment to be interrupted by Ren obnoxiously groaning, "My 'thank you' wasn't directed at you. I was just saying it."

"Stuff a sock in it," Alex ordered without missing a beat, yanking the front door open.

Rolling her eyes, Clarissa growled as she tightened her grip on Nona. She loved the Adler Estate, but she just wished she wasn't within earshot of Alex and Reginald. Before she realized it, a fuzzy feeling tingled at her fingertips and traveled through her arms, into her body, into her mind. Everything grew numb, and for a while she felt like she was having an out-of-body experience. It was warm and fuzzy, full of static, but it was also clear. Nice. She kind of didn't want it to end, but then Alex got really smart and outmaneuvered her. She felt Alex's aggression constricting her, making it harder and harder to breathe. Eventually, a hand let go of her neck, and she fell back to the floor, but she fell in an endless void, her stomach flying up into her brain.


	4. Chapter Four: Operation Sunflower

"...and the Japanese lost four aircraft carriers, and many of their best aviators," some static-voiced man, as timid as he was sure of himself, announced to Clarissa, as she jammed her palms into her closed eyes, desperately massaging her sockets to clear up the fuzziness. Taking a much needed breath, she dropped her arms and opened her eyes. She was still in the house, but she felt more at peace.

To her pleasant surprise, she saw Mags and Annie fully clothed, but in brown uniforms. Huddled on the same sofa that she could have sworn she had never left, though it was old-timey now. She felt dry in the throat again, despite the warm picture she was seeing: two military women clutching each other ever so tenderly as they listened to the static and the voice.

"...and then the captain stepped up and looked down; and he said, 'Hell, we're all right.' And that was when I knew the worst of it was over... That was the turning point for us, and confidence was restored again."

There was a pause. Neither woman dared to move.

A man with a much deeper voice announced, "That was Captain William Graves with his firsthand account of the Battle of Midway! With the Japs in head-long retreat, it's this reporter's opinion that Pearl Harbor has been avenged. Coming up on MBS, President Roosevelt plans to discuss possible rationing on gasoline, household items, and even clothing."

Jazz instruments began a slow-dance symphony.

Mags leapt off the sofa, pulling Annie into a tight hug. Nearly yelling at her lover, she cried out, "We did it, Annie! We did it! Six months, we've beaten those yellow-belly, buck-tooth bastards at their own game! God bless the U.S.A! We're on the offensive!"

Utilizing her superior height, Annie twirled Maggie around, moving their celebration into a four-step dancing session. They swirled and flowed rapidly, going along with the smooth jazz that played for them.

"What better way to celebrate than with the woman of my dreams?" Annie quietly wondered as she led Mags in an energetic jazz session, their feet moving in unison across the floor in a square pattern. "I dare say you'll radio Moscow to strike Tokyo from the north."

Laughing, Mags pressed her head against her lover's chest as they continued to dance, but more slowly. "I reckon they got plenty o' Gerry t' occupy themselves, but I might just do that tomorrow! Hell, why wait? Let's go up t' the tower now and see if we can't get Stalin on the line!" she dared to dream, trying to pull Annie along with her.

Smiling ear-to-ear, Annie pulled the smaller girl back into her arms. "Oh, Mags, my feisty, loaded Mags. That's the nicest thing you've ever had to say about the man of steel. I dare say you're warming up to him."

"It's the good mood," Mags shot back as she pushed herself into Annie's hug. "I reckon I'd still have a thing or two t'say 'bout his famines, but we're gonna deal with him later. Right now?" Looking up at Annie, she asked, "How 'bout we commemorate this moment?"

Kissing her girl on the lips, Annie asked, "And what, pray tell, do you have in mind, hmm?" With a knowing grin on her face, she elaborated, "Perhaps more pot shots in Cave Lake? Some wine and-"

Clarissa spun around as Mags started ripping off her uniform. She decided that she wasn't going to stick around to hear them go at it again. Not that she hated it. In fact, it was a fond memory of how she and Michael could be.

Before he died. Before Alex killed him.

She didn't just feel heated from the angry reminder, she felt burning hot from the summer sun. Looking back, she saw the front door was closed. Indeed, the massive, wooden door was closed. And in her anger, she figured she hadn't bothered to open it either. Going back to the front door, she placed her hand on the handle. Putting weight on it, she tried to push the door handle down, but it was firmly locked.

Clarissa paused. Standing on the patio, she was shaded from the summer sun, but the heat was flowing freely. Taking a deep breath, Clarissa leaned against the door and tried to rationalize. "I remember," she breathed. Resting her forehead against the door, she closed her eyes. "I remember you, Michael. I'm not where I'm supposed to be. This isn't right. I need to-"

She felt a change in herself. A staticy pull, a tearing, a crackling rip in her brain. The painful thoughts drowned themselves as she realized, "This is all Alex's fault. I don't know how, but I just know that little..." She groaned. Or sighed. It was a mixture of both.

"I need to focus." Standing up straight, she stared intensely at the door. "I need to find Nona. But I can't run around without a plan... I need to figure out how I do this stuff." Taking a deep breath, Clarissa relaxed herself. If not thinking about the door was what got her through the door, then she just had to stop thinking about the door. Right now.

"Stop," she groaned to herself. "It's not not-thinking, it's not-opposing. I think I can't do it, so I don't. But I know I can, right? So I just-"

Sure enough, her hand phased through the door. Daring as ever, Clarissa stepped through all the way and was greeted by two naked women going at it on the carpet; so, she promptly went back through the door.

Clarissa decided that she could go outside and enjoy the nice, burning weather. Heck, she was on an island resort full of old-day folks. Indeed, the island sounded far more lively than it had ever been for Clarissa's lifetime. Early June was a great time to visit the beach, and she took in the sights and sounds as she strolled by, invisible to all the men and women around her. Men of all body sizes attempted to show off what muscles they had, with some being far more successful than others. Clarissa grinned at the sight of young girls her age carefully checking their surroundings as they cozied up to some of the more handsome fellows. Stopping to listen in on a few of them, she gathered the general consensus that these young girls were more than happy to get to know the men much better, so long as their parents never, ever found out. It was a sentiment she knew all too well and sighed as she moved along Beacon Beach.

Stopping at one spot on the beach, Clarissa observed the spare drinks that a much fatter man and woman had brought with them to their day on the beach. Noting that the woman had her head buried in a July 7, 1942 edition of the local paper, and the man was snoring like a chainsaw, Clarissa eyed the beers that were chilling in a thawing ice bucket.

Reaching down to pick one up, Clarissa wondered if she even could- "Ah, there I go again," she scoffed just as her hand phased through the bottle and ice water. She felt nothing, except for a little fuzziness in her hand. "I don't think I can, so I don't... but if I believe that I can..." She tried again, this time firmly grasping the bottle and pulling it out of 1942.

Her hand was slightly numbed from bathing in ice water, but Clarissa raised the bottle triumphantly into the air, cold droplets rolling off of the glass and splatting onto her grinning face. She'd never felt more refreshed, until she shoved the cap into her breast and twisted, popping the cap off. Sure enough, old-timey beer tasted great.

Strolling up to the shore, Clarissa moved through the crowds of kids and couples. Enjoying the beer, her mind began to consider more possibilities and opportunities.

Clarissa, always attentive in science class, proposed to repeat the experiment as she came across a gang of four soldiers sprawling out on the beach. As fascinating as it was to hear them talk about which girl was gonna go for them at the club tonight, she was more interested in the carton of cigarettes and box of matches they had laying in their duffel bag. Ignoring their dad-bodies, as attractive as they were, she thrust her hand forward with confidence and picked up the carton and the matches. jamming her bottle into the sand, Clarissa opened the carton, and stuffed a handful of cigarettes into her pants pocket. Picking out one extra, she stuck it in her mouth and pulled out her Vietnam War lighter. Raising it to her cigarette, she cupped her hand around it and tried to ignite, only for the spark to fly and fizzle. She tried several more times before she noticed that it wasn't working. Perplexed, Clarissa never recalled it failing on her before. Closing it, she put it back in her pocket for later examination. In the meantime, she grabbed a packet of restaurant matches and broke the first match, trying to light up. Rolling her eyes, she tried again but had to go for a third time before finally lighting the match and helping herself to the sweet, sweet nicotine.

Blowing a satisfying cloud into the sky, she put the carton back in the bag. Mindful of her future, she kept the matchbox for herself. "Thanks for your service," she mockingly told them as they continued to bicker over the nice girls they were gonna take out tonight.

She reached for her beer when she heard one of them ask, "Hey, where's our smokes?!"

Clarissa looked back. She knew that she had put the carton back in their bag, but the idiot rummaging around in it couldn't see it. The others jumped up and went to investigate. Sure enough, none of them could find the carton. It was gone for good. Clarissa made a mental note of how permanent her power was. With the new information at her disposal, she developed one more experiment to perform. "I don't think I can, so I can't... but what if I know I can't, so I don't?" she wondered aloud, her thoughts incomplete, conveniently vague.

Clarissa found a sparsely occupied area of the muddy part of the beach, pretty close to where the old man and his beer were stationed.

Carefully resting the half-empty bottle into a safe, little hole, she stood on the edge of getting her shoes wet. The waves gently rolled away from her, leaving mud in front of her. She slowly pressed her foot into the mud. The squish resonated with her slow pressure, and she pulled up to reveal her footprint. "I know I can, so I do..." she confirmed again. "But if I know I can't, I won't."

She pressed her foot down again, confident that she couldn't actually leave a footprint in 1942. Sure enough. her foot felt fuzzy, and she pulled up to reveal no footprint next to where she had actually left a footprint. "I don't think I can, so I don't," she reaffirmed to herself. "I know I can't, so I don't. But when I know I can, I do. Time is a fickle mistress."

"Honey, didn't we have eight beers?" she heard someone ask a few yards back.

Clarissa suddenly wondered about the interactivity of her power. She confidently left footprints in the sand, sloshing with each step. She carefully walked in the straight lines needed to form a swastika. Once she came to the end of her swastika, Clarissa changed mental gears. "I know I can't actually do it, so I won't," she told herself again.

Sure enough, she stepped back onto the muddy sand and left no footprints. Backing away, she waited and watched. It didn't take long for a man and his girl to stroll by. They both stopped, stared at the swastika, and immediately set to work destroying it, stomping and trampling Clarissa's hard work until nothing but a muddy mess remained.

Grabbing up her bottle, Clarissa mockingly saluted the couple as they continued their stroll, mood soured by the apparent fascist support. Grinning ear to ear, she drank heartily as she watched kids laugh and shriek together. "I'm on Beacon Beach. I should enjoy myself for a while," she told herself with confidence. She took a stroll of her own, watching everyone and everything around her out of leisure, her stomach filling with beer and her pockets full of smokes. She sighed while young couples playfully taught each other to swim, and friskier adults made their way to the secluded Horn Lake. Young kids went off to get down and dirty where Michael had taken his stupid sister to learn how to swim, and she'd gotten him killed.

Granted, Clarissa hadn't been there, but she knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that it had been Alex who had killed him. It could only have been her, the little twat had always been the problem that ruined everything. And just when Michael and his beautiful girlfriend were about to set off on their Happily Ever After, Alex had dragged him over to that stupid pool and drowned him. Of course, Alex hadn't had the guts to kill him while Clarissa could have done something. No, Alex chose the one time Clarissa flew out of state that year.

Clarissa's laughter came from the bottom of her throat, deep and venomous. She had to get off the beach, fast. Tossing her empty bottle to the ground, Clarissa stomped away. She had been fifteen days from getting back into town, and the Nazis had been fifteen miles from Moscow. "Look at that, I remembered something from your stupid class," she murmured to her history teacher's memory. "Wish I could just forget it all. Sure would make the pain less intense."

There was peace and quiet in the tunnel that connected Beacon Beach to the parking lot. She thought about going into the plaza, a junction that cars drove down for actual town outings; but instead she opted to go back to where she had woken up, to the parking lot. To her great frustration, she ran into more couples. Some were fishing, others were rollerblading, a few had even taken up kissing in the shade.

The joyful chatter, cheers, hoots, and hollers around her drove her into a fury. She knew exactly what she should have asked Alex during that stupid game of "Truth Or Slap". She knew how to figure out how Alex was the reason all of this was happening. And she needed Nona by her side for it all. She'd been far too neutral towards that twerp for far too long.

Crying out, Clarissa dropped to her knees as she mashed her palms into her eyes. The intense headache and fuzziness, combined with the shrill ringing in her ears drove her into a fury. The minor pains wouldn't distract her from focusing on her one goal: getting back at Alex. Not even reality getting torn apart in a storm of static would stop her.


	5. Chapter Five: Operation 25

**Chapter Five: Operation 25**

"Wait, it's Clarissa's turn already?" Reginald asked rather daftly, his dumb eyes coated in red from his stupid pot brownies.

Clarissa focused up, her anger enabling her to acclimate herself to her surroundings. "Yeah, it's my turn. What do you mean 'It's Clarissa's turn already'? I haven't even asked one question! Everyone's asking me, so I get to do the asking now!"

True to form, Alex protested. She always protested, she never could leave Clarissa alone. "I know you think we're playing Truth Or Slap, but this isn't actually real!"

Clarissa fell silent. If Alex was on the same page as her, then they could probably figure out how to fight whatever was going-

A sharp tearing of her brain matter caused Clarissa to flinch and quiver. Screwing her eyes shut again, she jammed her palms into her eyes, furiously rubbing them, desperate to get rid of the fuzziness. The ringing in her ears subsided, as did the blurring, when she realized that she could be completely honest and upfront with the girl.

Oddly enough, Reginald's pot-induced haze must have shoved some sense into his brain; he agreed that Clarissa should be allowed to ask her question.

"You of all people should know what I'm going to ask," Clarissa warned Alex, as everything fell into place. The roaring fire, the empty parking lot, now was the time to confront this. "I'm not gonna waste it. Alex, what did you do?"

Alex couldn't bring herself to reply. She just stared at Clarissa in fear and confusion.

Clarissa wasn't buying it. "Explain why me and my best friend, and you and your idiot best friend, and your new step brother are all screwed!"

Alex protested, tears welling up in her eyes. "I didn't mean- I just tuned- it wasn't my fault, Clarissa! I- I just thought we- I don't-" She couldn't go on. The tears were spewing forth, and her voice kept hiccuping in her throat.

"Oh, bullshit!" Clarissa haughtily laughed. "Since when the hell do you cry?!"

Much to her dismay, Reginald, Jonas, and even Nona sided with Alex, the source of their problems. It infuriated her even further when they all agreed that this hadn't been her fault, which flew in the face of all logic.

Clarissa tried to convince Jonas, at the very least. She poured her heart out, explaining how it had been Alex who drowned Michael. To that, Alex nearly pulled her long and bright orange hair out in agony. Reginald and Jonas comforted her as best they could while Nona stalked up to Clarissa.

"That's enough!" Nona damn near screamed in her face, which was burning up almost as intensely as the fire they had going in the parking lot. "It's too much, Clarissa! Enough!"

Clarissa couldn't believe what she was seeing. "She killed her brother! Nona, she's cancer!"

To that, Nona threw her hand as hard as she could into Clarissa's cheek. The sound echoed through the night, only accompanied by the roaring fire.

After what felt like an eternity of silence, Nona quietly decided, "We came here to do a thing." Glaring at Clarissa, she stood her ground and told her, "That thing is going to get us home."

Clarissa couldn't believe that her very last friend had hit her. The stinging on her cheek was nothing compared to the burning agony in her heart.

Alex managed to squeak out between her hiccuping, "It was an accident."

"So let's all get home," Nona told Clarissa. "Don't bother coming to my house anymore. Instead of all this, I'll just tell my parents I caught you making out with another girl. After seeing the way you've been treating Alex tonight? I think it's more than you deserve."

Clarissa damn near gawked at this short, feisty Nona she'd never known.

Nona reached into her pocket and pulled out a four-picture strip, taken from one of those shopping mall photo booths. From her angle, Clarissa could clearly see herself sitting with Nona in the first one. Eyes widening, she saw the two of them kissing in the second one, with her hand cupping the smaller girl's cheeks; Nona was blushing, her arms crawling up Clarissa's back.

Before she could glimpse the last two, Nona tossed it into the fire. Clarissa slowly turned her head back to Nona, eyes watering.

Nona wasn't done. Over the sounds of Alex crying and hiccuping, she firmly told Clarissa, "I pray to God that I never see you again."

Clarissa knew this wasn't where she belonged. She didn't want to be here anymore. She just wanted to be back on Beacon Beach, back in time, anything but where she was right now.

Her heart began to race, with her vision blurring yet again, and the ringing in her ears exploded into a thunderstorm of static. "No, no, no!" Clarissa screamed, grabbing at her eyes in pain. "This isn't right!" At least, she felt like she was screaming. Her voice sounded so quiet, as if she wasn't even talking at all. She didn't have time to ponder it, as reality tore itself asunder again.


	6. Chapter Six: Operation Martina

Clarissa awoke screaming. Everything around her was a blur, but her vision corrected as her screaming died down. Her heart rate was through the roof, though; she couldn't stop her body from shaking into her fingers, the sweat from rolling down her forehead, or the light-headed numbness that coursed through her soul.

Unable to control her breathing, Clarissa frantically scrambled to her knees. The flickering lights in the parking lot were scaring her to death. She fled into the cave, sprinting back to Beacon Beach. There, it was dark, mostly.

Save for a few dying fires on the beach, she almost didn't know where she was going, but she felt the sand beneath her, and the salty sea was almost overpowering her sense of smell. The wind whipped against her face, slicing against the stinging cheek Nona had used to drive home her message. She could only assume she was back in 1942, given the old-timey blankets and umbrellas that had been left behind from the apparently busy day at the beach.

Her breathing began to stabilize. The chilly, night air was a much-needed refreshment for her panic. Swallowing hard, she found her throat to be incredibly parched. She looked around. Sure enough, she was on Beacon Beach, the end of her normal life. Before Alex messed-

Frowning, she remembered that Alex never had orange hair. More importantly, Nona never had feelings for her. At least, Clarissa believed that Nona, or just her Nona, didn't have feelings; but now she wasn't sure of anything anymore.

Even though they'd never... even though she never got intimate with her version of Nona, seeing that particular Nona express no remorse about cutting her out of her life shook her to the core. If Nona, her last friend could be swayed to abandon her, then she was truly forever damned to be alone.

"I can't take this!" she wailed, tears rolling down her cheeks as she sat there, on the beach. "This time-traveling bullshit! It's- it's-! I'm-!" Collapsing onto her back, she sprawled out in anguish. "I'm just a child," she quietly hiccuped. "I'm supposed to be worrying about kids not liking me, or boys not texting me back, or if I failed tests! I'm not even twenty! Why the hell do I have to deal with time-traveling bullshit?!"

Clarissa slammed here hands into the muddy sand again and again, just to emphasize her point. For the first time since she had been an actual child, she let herself unload all the pent up tears. She cried over her insurmountable struggle to get back to her own time. She cried over losing Nona, or at least one version of Nona, her last and only friend. She finally let herself cry, let herself mourn, over Michael. Instead of just drinking and thinking up ways to murder Alex, she finally let herself accept that he was gone forever, and that she'd just have to go on without him.

Deep down, she knew it was what he wanted. Not hating his sister. She knew he'd never fall in love with the girl she had grown up to be.

And that was probably what made her cry the most.

She didn't notice the passage of time until the moonlight started popping up in the water, which she only realized when she noticed that her hands weren't getting wet. She diverted some of her brain power to acknowledging that she was in 1942, which prompted her to start sinking into the muddy sand and get salt water splashing on her skin.

While she knew she was in the wrong time, at least she was alive. Sniffling and snorting, she realized she was crying her eyes out roughly where she had been sitting that night.

And she also knew that the strange, blue-ish light flashing from that damned coffin of a cave was the same bluish light she'd seen just before all Hell had broken loose. Looking up, Clarissa's heart nearly stopped.

Hopping up, Clarissa began to race towards the cave. "Shit, shit, shit," she huffed to herself as she put her long legs to good use.

Clarissa had to refamiliarize herself with the small obstacle course that lay inside. It had been damn near a decade since she'd ever gone inside that apparently accursed cave, so she had a few close calls as she climbed, jumped, and crawled her way into the interior.

She nearly fell off the pathway when she finally got within view of the light show. It had only been a faint hum at the mouth of the cave, but now Clarissa's ears were nearly ringing with the same buzzing sensation she'd felt and heard many times in this time-traveling adventure.

"Oh my god," she breathed heavily, both in exhaustion and in horror. Standing before her were several bizarre things.

First was the big, floating triangle. Clarissa just knew it had to be the source of her life's bullshit. Second, Maggie Adler and Anna Shea were apparently fighting the floating triangle. As in, Anna had some kind of radio box strapped to her chest, and she was fidgeting with the dials. Maggie wasn't unarmed either; more conventionally, and in line with her character, she had some kind of bigger, bulkier rifle pointed at the triangle. Clarissa was a bit annoyed that she was remembering so much from class; she recognized the outline of the rifle. It was an FN FAL, the right arm of the free world. World War Two had been over for a while.

Maggie stood tall and proud, her rifle at the ready, and her army uniform in crisp, clean condition. She'd gotten more stripes sewn onto her sleeve too. In contrast, Anna stood taller but slightly hunched over with the giant radio box on her chest. She no longer wore a uniform; instead, she wore trendy, white pants that were belted under her ribcage and went down to her knees, and she had a bright, red shirt that had almost no sleeves.

 **"** _ **Leave... Not... Possible?!"** _The voices of the triangle were filled with static, the same kind Clarissa had been hearing. The lines of the triangle fluctuated and changed color, from a neon green to a bright orange. It returned to stillness as it finished speaking.

Anna and Maggie shared a grim look with each other. Maggie kept her gun raised. Anna was the first to reply. "I'm afraid that your situation appears rather impossible in the first place, Sergeant Griffin!" she explained. Judging from the exhaustion in her shaking tone, this wasn't the first time she was trying to say it. "While our radio technology is up-to-par, I'm afraid that our understanding of nuclear anomalies is rather primitive, as it stands!"

"The Soviet scum just got their bomb working a year ago!" Maggie added. "You want us to tell y'all how the hell ya got into this mess? We barely know how to make 'em explode! 'Sides, Miss Shea here ain't even qualified, and I'm just a comms officer!"

Recognizing the year to be in the early 1950s, Clarissa had gotten over the initial shock of it all and had finally made her way up to the two women. They had definitely grown a bit older. Wrinkle cream wasn't as advanced in their time, she figured.

"What Sergeant Adler is _trying_ to say!" Anna shouted over the humming static, with some annoyance in her tone, "Is that we simply do not possess the scientific backgrounds to analyze your situation! If you can keep your channel open, I'm sure we can bring in more qualified minds to rescue you!"

Maggie suggested, "Or, if y'all got any o' them bombs in your sub, y'all could sail on over to Korea first! We sure could use the firepower!"

Clarissa was being confronted with some kind of alien/parallel dimension/time-traveler wizard, and it had apparently grown so mundane to these women. She wondered how long they must have been talking for the conversation to become so dull. "Now I'm getting sleepy," she huffed to herself. Deep down, she knew she was just trying to keep herself from flying off the rail. Here she was, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with the two women, and a big talking triangle was humming right in front of her. It was a little too much for a teenager to handle.

" _ **...Leave Mothers... Will See... Them Soon..."**_

The cave began to shake. Anna struggled the most to keep her balance, with the heavy radio box on her chest. She tried adjusting the knobs, but that seemed to just agitate the triangle.

Maggie aimed down her sight. "Anna, what the hell's goin' on?! Y'wanna close that damn portal or what?!"

" _ **...We Just..."**_

Anna kept trying. "We appear to no longer be in control of them, Mags!" she revealed, the looming horror spreading across her face. "I think... I do believe they've been playing for time! They seem to be adapting to the radio!" Sure enough, the radio box sent sparks flying out of its transponder. The burning sensation forced Anna to unstrap the device entirely, letting it fall to the rocky floor and shatter.

Along with the radio, a few small rocks shattered on the ground around it.

Maggie started shooting, a ringing pop going off with each pull of the trigger. While Clarissa was startled, Anna had apparently gone through this before. She used her superior physique to pull the rifle out of Maggie's grasp. "Bloody Hell! You're even more daft than I thought!" she scolded. "They're causing an earthquake! Don't add to the fracturing, you manky lunatic!"

" **...** _ **Need..."**_

Clarissa suspected that she had missed out on a few arguments, judging from Maggie's readiness to fire back with her own southern slang.

"I've about had it with your posh, analytical bullshit, Anna!" Maggie staunchly shoved her way past Anna.

Both ladies screamed and leapt out of the way as larger rocks began to smash down around them.

" _ **...YOU...**_ " the triangle boomed, its lines turning blood red as it began to vibrate so violently that the whole cave began to collapse.

With rocks crashing down around her, Clarissa craned her neck, realizing that the whole cave was coming down around them. She screamed as a rock the size of her head fell through her, shattering out around her feet. She slapped a hand on her head, just to make sure she wasn't dead. "Guys, we gotta go!" she started to scream uselessly as Anna and Maggie scrambled.

Maggie went farther away from Clarissa, in order to grab her precious rifle.

Anna had begun to move towards Clarissa but stopped, turning around. "Mags, forget about your stupid-!"

Clawing at her hair, Clarissa had no idea how she could help the women. Desperate, she looked all around for something, anything she could use or do. Chunks of rock fell all around her. Screaming, she looked up just in time to see a giant crack forming right over Anna, who was screaming in pain and clutching her head as she fell to here knees, blood seeping out of her skull. There was no way she would notice the falling rocks in time.

Clarissa made a split-second decision. She shouted a warning, charging forward. Just as a giant slab of rock came crashing down, Clarissa hurled herself towards Anna, tackling her out of the way.

" _ **The... Girl?!...When?!"**_


	7. Chapter Seven: Operation Barbarossa

Clarissa jolted awake, hacking and wheezing as she sprayed water everywhere. Blurting gibberish, she rocketed off her back. Sitting straight up, she saw that the fateful lake had thankfully lost its giant, floating triangle. Staring down at her was Anna Shea, still in her civilian clothes, vibrant red and pale white. The woman was visibly pained, eyes raw and baggy. Her breathing was heavy, hiccupping from recent tears.

"Are you hurt?" she slowly asked, her throat ragged. "Lay back down. Be still."

It took a moment for Clarissa to realize that the woman was cradling her, with her head in Anna's lap. One hand cupped her cheek while the other held her left hand. "Are you seducing me?" she asked without thinking.

Frowning, Anna shot back, "I'm reviving you, thanks to the wonders of hydrotherapy. And it would seem to me that you're in good health. Don't move yet. Does anything hurt?"

To Anna's annoyance, Clarissa let go and moved to sit up. "No. Yeah... yeah, I'm good." Sure enough, she was in one piece and felt no pains from her movements. She dragged herself around to face the older woman. "Thank you."

"You may thank me after you explain to me just what exactly it is I'm doing in this world-between-worlds, child. I find myself in need of as much information as possible, and I dare say you may be the only one who knows anything of importance regarding this debacle."

Clarissa just stared at her. "You talk a lot."

"And I am of the opinion that you need to start talking more," Anna shot back. "What did you do, little girl?" She ignored Clarissa's sour face in response to her words and continued, "How did I get here?"

Clarissa raised her hands at the elbows, cradling herself. "I'm... I just saw the rocks were gonna come down on you. So I- I found the Triangle- and your gun was breaking rocks- there was-" she rambled, until Anna threw out her hand and made a shushing sound. Surprisingly, it calmed Clarissa down.

"Can you stop?" Anna calmly and firmly asked, her patience strained. "We are both clearly confused, but I suspect that you know more than me. It's imperative that you work with me on this." Rubbing her already red eyes, Anna cleared her throat, strained and raw. "Start from the beginning."

Nodding, Clarissa explained, "You and Maggie were shooting the triangle." Seeing Anna's growing frown, she quickly corrected, "Maggie was, anyways! You were trying to do something with a radio, but the triangle blew it up."

"I was communicating with them. My radio opened the triangle," Anna explained, just a bit peeved that her efforts weren't being appreciated.

Groaning, Clarissa didn't have time to deal with other people's insecurities and continued, "Good for you, but you kinda caused the cave to start dropping rocks, and you were going to get crushed, so I-! I just... I just pushed you out of the way."

They both fell silent. A few water droplets hit small puddles in unseen corners, echoing throughout. They might as well have been hammers smashing anvils.

"I'm sorry, Anna," Clarissa said. For the first time in a while, she was actually being honest and straightforward. It was weird to her, uncomfortable. She was used to a layer of sarcasm or snideness, like a warm blanket on a cold night. Now she was laid bare, and she was feeling a chill.

Anna nodded. "While I'm grateful that you saved my life, you appear to have stranded me here with you," she deduced. Looking around the empty cave, she decided, "I dare say you could use the company; the place is rather dreary, what with the loss of all loved ones. Would you be interested in revealing your name to me?" She eyed the girl even closer, reviewing the strangeness of this mystery lady.

"My name's Clarissa," she answered. "I... I've been watching you for a while- not deliberately!" she quickly corrected, throwing her hands out in a dramatic fashion. Flinching under Anna's sharp gaze, she explained, "I've been stuck, going back and forth between your time and mine. I never meant to stalk you and Maggie, but-"

"You watched us? When?" Anna quickly began to wonder. Eyes growing wide with fear, she suddenly demanded, "Where? In our private residencies? Dare I ask about the activities you-?!"

Shaking her head, Clarissa assured her, "No no no! It's all fine! I'm from- see, you're- what day- what year are you in?"

"The Year of our Lord, nineteen-fifty-one. The fourth of April," Anna answered, unsure of why the time was relevant. In all the confusion of the day, she had almost forgotten it entirely.

Nodding, Clarissa revealed, "I'm like a hundred years in the future, being gay is fine now!"

Anna stared at her in even greater confusion. "I... I don't see how being happy is a concern to the future generations of Texas."

"I'm not-?" Sighing, Clarissa dragged a hand across her face and explained, "Look, 'gay' means 'homosexual', not 'happy' in my time. I've seen how you two are, and there's no shame-"

"You have some nerve, Katie," Anna spat. Glaring at this ghostly intruder, she lectured, "What I do in the private company of others-"

"I'm not-! I don't get to choose!" Clarissa shouted back, frustration boiling over. She'd been through far too much for a teenager's mind as it stood; she didn't need some lady from the fifties or whatever telling her to respect privacy. "There are rules to this... this murky water I'm floating in."

"Murky water?" Anna asked. Brows furrowing, she ran her hands through her hair, blonde and matted. She shook loose a cloud of dust from the debris she'd picked up. "You need to walk me through this. Clearly you're not where you belong, but I am unable to render any aid as it stands."

Taking a deep breath, Clarissa tried to explain. "I get yanked back and forth between your time and my time. I don't 'transport' from where I'm standing, but the year changes. It's been happening a few times, and I don't remember everything; but I know that I've been... swimming... soaking... longer and longer with each 'jump', I guess? I don't do it on my own! I don't think, anyway!"

"You have no control over it?" Anna nearly gawked. Pointing a finger, she observed, "You've pushed me into the water with you!"

"I can grab things!" Clarissa frustratingly recalled. "If I think I can do it, like with a body part, I can interact with things in your time, and I can use them. I just never tried it with a person. Only doors and beer." Given the patriotic background Anna possessed, Clarissa felt it best to ignore the part where she drew a swastika in the sand.

"Can you put things back?!" Anna suddenly wondered, anger and fear mixing into a cry that had trouble getting out of her hoarse throat. "Can you get me back to Mags?" she immediately doubted, eyes wide as she realized that she had gotten distracted. "When you pushed me into this phantom zone, you left Mags by herself. She sat here for an hour in silence. She just... looked at where I had been. She was absolutely unconsolable, and I lay there writhing in agony before I realized you were even here. You got me here, you need to send me back to my time."

"Oh god... oh god, oh god, oh god!" Clarissa put her hands to her eyes. With all of the new information, she hadn't yet realized that her actions had just set Maggie Adler on the path of growing old, alone, and broken. While she had never met the woman in person, she could personally attest to the agony of knowing that you'll have to go to your grave without your lover at your side. Only now did she realize how responsible she was for Maggie Adler's life.

"Naturally, I tried to let Mags know that I was alive and well," Anna went on, trying to cope with her grief. She had grown oblivious to Clarissa, instead taking in the cave and its tomb-like features. "But she neither saw nor heard me. I dare say I made a fool of myself, phasing in and out of her, but I was trying to get her attention," Anna went on and on. Her talking got faster, rambling in some fashion, trying to deal with the overwhelming situation on her hands.

Clarissa wasn't handling it as well. Eyes stinging, she began to rub more and more ferociously, the ringing in her ears getting louder and louder. The earth began to spin, and she fell into an abyss, a screaming abyss that kept telling her over and over and over again to forget, to ignore, to go back to what she knew was true.

"Katie?!" Anna called out in confusion, but her concern fell on vanishing ears.


	8. Chapter Eight: Operation Typhoon

Clarissa had never woken up screaming before, but tonight was just a night for all new things. "For... get," she slurred to herself as she finally came back to reality. She grit her teeth in fear, but quickly spat out a mouthful of debris she'd picked up by rolling around on the cave floor.

Sitting up, Clarissa took in her surroundings. It was the cave where It had happened, she could clearly see that; however, she didn't really feel any sense of urgency. And yet, she knew there was something with a radio she needed. To close off something. "Crazy dream," she grunted to herself. "And why am I back here?" Clarissa glared at the calm, inviting water. That terrible, vile fountain of deadly, eternal youth gave her as much of a clenching pain as the thought of Alex dragging her down here.

"But I didn't," Clarissa mumbled to herself as she got to her feet. She specifically remembered Alex, Reginald, and Jonas going to see the mouth of the cave. In fact, now that she gave it some thought she realized that Alex would never want to bring Jonas down here. Even if she did, which is something only a horrifically evil Alex would entertain, Reginald would know better and offer up his precious pot brownies as a distraction.

Snapping her fingers, Clarissa huffed to herself, "Damn it, he never did offer to share those with me. Brad said they'd baked a whole batch at his house!"

As Clarissa began to make her way out of that terrible cave, she had to acknowledge that something was seriously wrong. "One moment I'm on the beach, next I'm in the coffin," she growled as she climbed up the precariously placed rocks. Stomach growling, she thought about food for the briefest of moments, and then she remembered that wonderful night where she and Nona had eaten a weird but tasty sandwich that was lacking in onion. Mouth watering, she took a long, hard breath of that fresh and salty sea air as she finally emerged from the cave. Beacon Beach was deserted, their friendly fire resting quietly. The beach towels were all jumbled up, but their precious/stolen beer was still in the cooler.

Delighted, Clarissa helped herself. Fizzy urine, the American classic, was a welcome sensation to her. She felt like she'd been going through hell for the longest time, but here she was. Alone in the middle of the night, relaxing on the beach with a beer. Instinctively, she checked her phone. Oddly enough, it was only 10:05. Maybe it was somehow Clarissa's mental nerves that had gone a full circle, but she knew she should be more freaked out. She was awake at 9 PM, the light show happened not too long after, no later than 9:30, and suddenly she was in a different location. Granted, it wasn't too far from where she had apparently been knocked out, but she knew there were a million red flags in just passing out from two or three beers.

She wanted to call for help, but her phone was conveniently out of range, which was another red flag. Her data plan always accounted for Edwards Island. She needed to call someone, anyone. If she couldn't use her phone, she could use a radio. The one place she knew that was built to talk to the mainland was-

A flashing red light cracked across the sky like a lightning bolt, a static tearing sound seared through her eardrums, deafening her. " _ **Not... done... soaking!"**_

Shrieking, Clarissa dropped her beer and ran for it. She had managed to recognize what she needed to do. Adrenaline pumping, she raced off towards Fort Milner. She wasn't sure what exactly to look for, but she knew that there had to be some kind of radio powerful enough to contact Camena. At the very least, there had to be an emergency line of some kind, some list of numbers for the military dudes to call if the Japs ever sneaked up on the island.

Clarissa was ever thankful that she had decided to show off at school by joining the track team. Putting her long legs to good use, she made it to Fort Milner, and she only suffered two more red light attacks: one from an exploding lamp post, and another from a billboard light. Every time she tried to formulate a plan, that searing, screeching pain entered her mind, her soul, her whole body. But she didn't have time to feel pain, she had to call for help. It wasn't like Alex was going to do anything to help her. She would help Reginald and Jonas, maybe even Nona, but certainly not Clarissa. She found herself wanting to contact help first, beat Alex to the punch, just so she could show Alex who was really in charge.

She was overcome with anger, grief, and shame all at once. Oddly enough, the pain subsided considerably as she thought about humiliating that poser. She thought about Alex getting lost in the abandoned, scary Fort Milner, all of its decrepit and rotting infrastructure collapsing on Alex, burying her for skateboarders to find her rotten corpse. She imagined Alex bleeding out, cutting herself a million times on all of the rusted and jagged metal corners, or on all the broken glass that littered the abandoned compound. Clarissa kept herself afloat on such fantasies as she traversed the obstacle course.

And while she would have been happy to think about the defeat of Alex, more than just literally, keeping the pain away felt nice too. So it was to her great discomfort, physically and emotionally, when Alex picked up the super emergency hotline phone. Clarissa had a million different questions, but hearing a friendly-sounding voice after what had felt like an eternity was ultimately a relief to her.

"Hellooo?" Alex asked again. "Is... is anyone there? Jonas, I don't-"

"Alex!" Clarissa suddenly blurted!

"...Oh. Clarissa. What are you doing on this line?"

There was too much going on inside Clarissa's head, not all of it her own thoughts. She pushed past the initial urge to hate Alex and just try to solve the problem at hand. Pressing the button on her radio's receiver, she leaned in and asked, "Alex, are you still on the island? Is it just you and Jonas? Jesus, I'm still hearing noises outside. I'm at Fort Milner, where are you?"

Sighing, Alex konked her head against the giant metal machine. The konk echoed through the tower and into the phone. "Hi, Clarissa. I'm at Harden Tower. If you wanna put those legs of yours to some use, why don'tcha jog over here? In the meantime, I gotta keep Ren in one piece. So, unless you found his brownies-"

"Alex!" Clarissa blurted again, but with a far greater sense of desperation seeping into her tone. "There's- there's-" she tried to explain, but realized the absurdity of the red lights, the strange memories, all of it. "I... I think there's something wrong. I found this radio, it says it can contact Camena. I woke up without Nona-"

"Poor thing!" Alex gasped back. "Don't worry, I know how you feel, but don't worry! I'll let you have her on the weekends!"

"Alex! Please!" Clarissa nearly cried out. Heaving, she felt so overwhelmed that she had trouble balancing. She sat down, in her dingy radio room, overlooking the abandoned courtyard a thousand floors down. Debris puffed up into the air as the cushion caved under her weight, staining her jeans. The old office chair creaked under a relatively light load, its frame rusted from years of rain. "I- I'm exhausted. I'm disoriented. I don't remember the last hour! I'm- I ran all the way here and had to find this room in the dark, my battery died. Can you- can you-"

"Mmm, Jonas, naughty boy! Not while I'm on the phone!" Alex moaned. "Sorry, Clarissa, was there something you wanted?"

Clarissa hadn't yet noticed the twitch in her face. "Can you come over and figure this radio thing out with me?"

There was a pause. Jonas spoke first. "Fort Milner looked huge on the map. Does she kno-?"

Alex hung up on her, the phone screaming in her ear. Now, she noticed the twitching. She caught her hand shaking, too. She couldn't take a full breath, and she wanted to run but had nowhere to go except out the window.

"You broke me, Alex," Clarissa admitted aloud, phone still to her ear. "Even if I end up in a good place, I'll never forget what you did to me. I'll never forgive you for killing Michael! He would hate me for saying it, but I'll be damned if I let his memory keep me from breaking you! You hear me, Alex?!" Clarissa screamed into the phone, slamming her hand against the faceplate of the phonebox. "I don't care how far I go, or where I go, or what happens to me! If you're okay with kicking me while I'm down, Michael can't blame me for pulling you down with me!"

Alex had to chuckle at that, to which Clarissa suddenly wondered if Alex had really hung up on her. Credit where it was due, Alex took it all in stride and calmly, sweetly assured Clarissa, "Good night. Sleep tight. Sink to the bottom... _**with us... tonight.**_ "

An explosion of static, as if it were coming from a record player, erupted out of the receiver, red light blasting from the light sources of her radio set. Shrieking, Clarissa hurled the receiver out of her hand. Since it was on a cord, it didn't go too far. She leapt out of her chair and raced to the door, only to leap back again when she heard the record static emanating from the speakers outside. Frantic, and out of options, Clarissa grabbed her chair and hurled it at the door. As it smashed against the rotting wood, she tried to control her breathing.

"I don't wanna be here!" she frantically whisper shrieked to herself again and again, over and over, as if she could just jump out the window and fly away. She stood her ground, fighting the urge to just cower in the corner.

Shaking and heaving, Clarissa glared at the door, hearing the static get more and more intense. She wished, pleaded, and prayed. Wracking her mind, she fell into a desperate state of longing, for the one person who actually understood, who was actually able to empathize with this sense of hopelessness. For reasons she couldn't explain, she suddenly wished that she was with Anna. Anna Shea. She had no idea who that woman was, but she just knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that Anna could help her.

" **No! Not... Again!"**

And as the static got more and more intense, the room tore itself apart, and Clarissa stayed awake to see it happen. It was as real as the hair on her head.

" **We... Can find!"**

The voices, the glaring red light, the crackling static, it was all gone, echoing away into the sunset. Clarissa stared at the doorway, fresh white paint applied to a sturdy wooden door. Bright office lights shown down into the radio room, and she could hear all kinds of office noises just outside.

Swallowing hard, Clarissa felt an intense dryness in her throat.

"I dare say you've made the discovery of the millennium," Anna Shea quietly murmured almost next to Clarissa's ear.

Jolted, Clarissa spun to her left. Sitting at the very same radio station she had just been using was Anna Shea, in a long red skirt and a bright, white shirt. She even had on one of those fancy hats Clarissa saw fancy ladies wearing in the 1950s, velvet black with a matching bow. She sat at the desk that once accompanied all of the machinery, listening very intensely to something on a pair of headphones, though she used just one ear and let the rest of the headset hang off her hand. Maggie Adler stood tall and proud over her, though naturally shorter, crisp and clean in her uniform. While normally feisty, she seemed rather stoic on this day.

There was a loud click, and Clarissa could see Anna shake as she put down the headphones.

"Ah reckon so," Maggie grunted. With her arms crossed, and her back to Clarissa, the teenager couldn't get a read on her face, but the body language and voice gave off a very cold feeling to her. "Marianna's been kind enough t' help, but she's got other duties. What'dya say, Ms. Shea? Wanna work on it with me?"

Breath held, Clarissa stared intensely at the two women as Anna looked up from the table. Setting the headphones down, stood up to make sure she was still taller than Maggie. Satisfied with her posture, she adjusted her collar and hat, looking down at Maggie with calm, neutral eyes. Despite the standoff, she gave a gentle nod.

"I would like that very much," she said both in front of and behind Clarissa, which caused Clarissa to spin around to find Anna Shea in the flesh, so to speak. The woman had such a fondness in her face as she relived the moment aloud.

"You-" Anna started, but was interrupted by Clarissa's screaming.


	9. Chapter Nine: Operation Fall Blau

**Chapter Nine: Operation Fall Blau**

Conveniently for Anna, her past self and Maggie Adler decided to leave their tiny radio room to go have coffee or something. Clarissa didn't get to finish freaking out; Anna flinched and slapped the teenager as soon as she jumped and started screaming. "I'll have your head if you try that again!" she yelled at the girl, rubbing her hand as it began to get sore.

"Jesus Christ!" Clarissa yelled back. "You can't just sneak up on me like that!" she angrily explained as she began to massage her stinging cheek. "What did you think I'd do, Anna?!"

"Not scream?!" Anna wondered incredulously, throwing her arms into the air in frustration. "I was trying to communicate with Mags, but you suddenly started calling out to me! I thought you were expecting me! I dare say a month is long enough to go without contacting me, child."

Clarissa froze. She remembered wishing for that but didn't- it hadn't been a month for her. "I didn't know who you were when I did that," she recalled, her voice wilted and somber. "I didn't remember anything. I thought I had just blacked out on the beach. Anna, every time I go back to my time-"

"You can go back? How? You must-" Anna tried to request, only to be cut short as Clarissa explained further.

"No, no, no! I don't get to- I don't- I didn't think I could, like, control whenever I slingshot between your time and mine. Anna, every time I, like, wake up here I remember everything," she summarized, her heartbeat accelerating as she started to piece things together. "But suddenly the triangle people got super pissed at me. I think it's when I pulled you into this... whatever this shallow zone is. They didn't like that at all, and they chased me when I- when they threw me back to my time."

"They threw you? They forced you back to your time?" Anna asked, clearly more interested in figuring out how to replicate the experience on her own terms.

Shaking her head, Clarissa kept her ego down and brought her up to speed. "They must have put me in your time when all this started happening for me and my friends. I.. I don't think they expected me to cause trouble, Anna. But I think I can control it, the slingshot power."

"But you just said they were throwing you back and forth across the timeline," Anna observed, hand on her hip and the other to her mouth. "You're sure you can control it yourself? Last I saw you, I dare say you were swept away like smoke in the wind. I haven't seen you in a month."

"It's only been a few hours for me," Clarissa managed to squeak out. "I'm... I'm sorry. I know what it's like being alone."

"Spare me the theatrics," Anna sighed. "Come now, we're clearly on the clock. Tell me about your power; we're going to need it."

Nodding, Clarissa revealed, "For the longest time I couldn't control it, or I didn't know how to. And I kept forgetting everything that had happened when I slingshot back into my own time. But when the triangle ghosts got pissed at me, they kept yelling at me in my time. I thought it was the first time I saw them, but I think they were just fogging up my memory. They trapped me in this room, and I thought I was gonna die, and they kept saying I wasn't done soaking or something."

"Soaking? In what?" Anna wondered, observing the girl with both concern and caution.

"I don't know, this shallow zone? But I know they're trying to find me," Clarissa decided, confident in that much at least. "They told me they could track me down. I didn't know I was able to escape their watch, but I think I'm safe now. I... I think I evaded them by wishing to be here?"

"You think? Do you, or do you not know? How can you be sure, and what are we going to do to outrun them?" Anna kept wondering, growing more and more worried as she realized that the peace wasn't going to last.

"I wished myself away from them, somehow!" Clarissa nearly stammered in her excitement. "I don't know exactly how I did it, but I remember it all, Anna! I stayed conscious this time! I didn't black out, or fall asleep, or whatever; I stayed awake and saw the timeline change before my own eyes! I think I can control it, and the ghosts don't like it."

Anna took it all in. Clarissa came up with the perfect analogy. "They thought I would just drown in the Shallows, but now I can swim," she confidently and bitter-sweetly realized.

Slowly nodding, Anna finally understood. "And it stands to reason that I must possess the same abilities as you do; though I must admit that I shall require your tutelage in picking up objects. Though, I can't help but wonder how long it will take for them to wade around and find us in this new spot... this new pool in the creek. Furthermore, why did you chose this date, of all dates, to call me 'downstream' as you might say?"

Shrugging, Clarissa reasoned, "I didn't wish to be somewhere else. I mean, I did, but I didn't think I could change what location I was in. I just... I thought I was stuck, and I figured that Anna Shea was the only one who could help me in my moment. So I swam to a different time in the same location, I guess? Maybe this was the last time you were ever in this room?"

It was like Clarissa had thrown a spear made of ice into the woman's heart. Wincing, Anna looked around the radio room with great interest, and yet she had a thousand-yard-stare in her eyes. Nodding, she decided, "It... it would explain why I heard you. I was still in the present. Present for me, that is. And it's 'Shay-ah', not 'Sheey-ah', in case you ever feel inclined to attempt another pronunciation."

"Sorry," Clarissa groaned. "I just- but you heard me. You just appeared behind me, like that." Clarissa snapped her fingers for emphasis. "How did you do that?"

It was Anna's turn to shrug, but she didn't do that, because shrugging is a very childish body gesture. Instead, she shook her head. "I'm afraid that I am not privy to that information; however, I suspect that it is correlated to my own desire, my own 'wishing' or 'swimming' power, as you might say. I was simply attempting to communicate with Mags when I heard you calling. Your crying sounded rather urgent, so I felt it was necessary to follow the echoes I was hearing. In my travels, I simply honed in on the source, and I found you here."

Clarissa nearly gawked at her. "You make it sound so simple."

"Despite some light-headedness at the door, I'm rather partial to the opinion that it was," Anna decided with a smirk.

Scrunching her lips, Clarissa slowly nodded. "Yeah, great for you..."

The two stood comfortably close to one another, yet Clarissa felt like a chasm had been torn between them. "I'm sorry," she said again.

Anna bent her head, curious as to why she was receiving a second apology.

"For bringing you here," Clarissa explained. Motioning to the radio equipment, she further elaborated, "I saw how standoffish you and Mags were, in the cave. If you two had a fight-"

"My dear girl, that is simply two very different women attempting to cope with their personal feelings while trying to work together," Anna lectured. "Going off of your looks, I'm privy to the opinion that you've had a few entanglements yourself, am I wrong? It was simply how Mags wanted to deal with me after we ended our romantic interests."

Offering a friendly smile, Clarissa nodded. "I see." She considered what Anna had said, and then she remembered more of what she had just seen. "You were in civilian clothes today. Not just in the cave-"

"This day happens long before that day," Anna shortly answered as she strolled to the window.

Clarissa followed. "So you left the army," she confirmed aloud. "But they let you back into the fort? In war time?"

Anna gazed into the courtyard. A smile grew on her lips. "It's the seventh of August, nineteen fifty-one, Katie. I didn't even need that calendar," she both informed and bragged as she motioned the the calendar posted on the door.

"I'm not-" Clarissa turned around. Sure enough, there was a calendar with the past days marked through with a red pen. The top page was a drawing of a topless Hawaiian girl covering her dignity with a necklace of flowers. "They... grow... big down here, the coconuts I say?" Clarissa awkwardly read aloud. Scoffing, she decided, "I'm not surprised an army base would order Playboy."

Chuckling, Anna told her, "I don't know what 'Playboy' is, but that's probably our version of it." Her eyes never left the courtyard.

Clarissa went back to the window to enjoy the apparent show. It was pristine. Freshly mowed grass, a nice patio area for food and drinks, even flowers had been planted in colorful patterns of red, white, and blue. "Nice," Clarissa muttered to herself. She perked up when she saw 1951 Maggie Adler and Anna shea strolling out to the picnic table with sandwiches and coffee. The two set their trays down and began to talk intensely, with Maggie doing most of the talking and Anna asking a few questions here and there, prompting more talking.

"Getting back together?" Clarissa asked, looking to Anna.

Anna smiled and took a heavy breath. "No, though if she had asked me back, if she had possessed the spine to ask for forgiveness, I dare say that I would have lacked the will to resist right there."

"Then why are you back here?" Clarissa couldn't help but wonder.

Sighing fondly, Anna explained, "I received a civilian pass for the base and a letter explaining as much as she knew. Mags said she was able to hear the sunken crew of the _Kanaloa_. I took a plane, a cab, and a boat to get here today. You just saw me listening to the recording of them Mags had made in Site Eighty-Two. Right now..."

There was too much sniffling for Clarissa to not look. Anna had to dry her eyes as she explained, "Right now we're talking about how we're going to save them... the Sunken."

Eyes going wide, Clarissa knew where they needed to go next. "Where's Site Eighty-Two?"

"My apologies," Anna somewhat giggled. "It's the comm tower in Epiphany Fields."

"Let's go! I'll explain as we run!" Clarissa exclaimed, bolting out of the room with Anna close behind her. She didn't get too far. Anna held her up at the courtyard. Past Anna and Maggie were having a distant but warm conversation with each other, discussing their plans to save the crew of the _Kanaloa_. They even started to discuss the years that had passed. Anna daintily sipped her coffee and had a small bite of sandwich while Maggie tore into the heap of sandwiches she'd piled onto her plate, talking with her mouth full as she elaborated on how her staff were nice but not that interesting, filling her mouth with hot coffee once she'd made her case.

Smiling ear to ear, Anna was clearly not going to budge until she'd had her own appetite filled. With the clock ticking, and so much more yet to be done, Clarissa angrily left her behind.


	10. Chapter Ten: Operation Winter Storm

As Clarissa climbed to the top of Harden Tower, she periodically looked over Epiphany Fields to see if Anna had caught up with her. Both legitimately frustrated at the woman and severely projecting her own emotions, Clarissa cursed the woman's attachment to the past. She wasn't even sure why she wanted Anna present for this, when it would all be rendered null and void in just a few minutes, she hoped. Getting to the top, she took one last look over Edwards Island. She flipped off the beach and phased through the door to the station inside. She looked around and found a calendar, though it lacked any artistically drawn women in the nude. She was still in 1951.

Taking a deep breath, Clarissa closed her eyes and concentrated. If she'd "swam" to the last time Anna was in Fort Milner, and that year just so happened to be 1951, she reasoned that she could swim to the year and then find where Maggie Adler had made contact with the Sunken triangle ghosts. If she could just steal away some important piece of radio equipment, she could prevent Maggie Adler from ever making contact with them. Breathing calmly, Clarissa began to swim.

Having gone through it so many times, both of her own accord and against her will, it came more naturally to Clarissa; but it was still a stressing task to undertake. For once, she was actually focusing on doing it, so she took in a lot more sounds. Not daring to open her eyes, out of fear of being overwhelmed at the currents she was being thrown through, Clarissa heard years upon years of conversations, all jumbled and accelerated beyond human comprehension. She reached out, slowing down, isolating two specific waves in the turbulent river: Maggie Adler and Anna Shea. They were unique to her, so she swam towards them; it got more and more difficult as she swam back and forth across hundreds of voices, but she eventually closed in. She found it easier to make broad strokes across long periods of time versus precise, micro strokes through shorter intervals of time.

There were quite a few pools on the side of the river. Clarissa swam between them. Most were calm, happy, quiet even. One sucked her under, almost drowning her. It was rough, heavy, even violent. Clarissa tried to swim out, but she was pulled in too far. She thrust her eyes open, gasping for air, and the world came to as the radio station materialized in front of her. Not much had changed, except for the lighting, calendar, and people in it.

Clarissa collapsed, falling onto her rear and taking it all in as she caught her breath.

Maggie Adler sat at the station. Anna Shea stood right behind her, leaning into the woman and giving her a loving massage. Maggie was content to sit where she was, moaning every so quietly as Anna massaged her muscle knots. Two cups of coffee sat close by, along with Maggie's M1 Garand, three clips of ammunition, and a "Batman and Robin" comic. Clarissa was half-tempted to take the comic, knowing it had to be worth a fortune in her time. Radio static sang across the room, softly drifting. It was clearly a quiet day for Site 82, but Clarissa was sure of what she had just gone through. She glanced back to the calendar. Not only had it never changed positions, it had stayed where it was for eight years. Clarissa had swam and been sucked into October 25, 1943.

Looking back at the women, Clarissa wondered why the day was so important yet so quiet. Her curiosity wavered as Maggie moaned again. Clarissa had to ask, "Are you gonna bone or break up?"

"Control, this is Sergeant Adler of Site Eighty-Two, come in, Control," Maggie announced on her speaker. She immediately let go of the button as Anna dug into a muscle knot. "Ach! No, keep going, keep... aaah, yeah, that's it, ughhh!"

"Anything for my sergeant's health," Anna chuckled and obeyed, bending down to plant a kiss on the woman's neck. The two shared a giggle, much to the annoyance of Clarissa, who hated all public displays of affection. "Poor thing. Poor, 'rich' thing! Before you leave to party, remember that I always accepted you when you were poor," she sweetly reminded her.

"Keep it up, corporal," Maggie laughed at first but droned into a moan. " Ah reckon you'll be due for a pro-"

"Site Eighty-Two, this is Control. Go ahead, over," a man said back to Maggie.

"Control, Site Eighty-Two has nothing to report as of twenty-two hundred hours, over and out!" Maggie explained to Control before promptly leaning back into her massage. "Ah swear, the recruiters gotta get more kids out here. Y'know it's bad when a sarge an' a corporal gotta do shifts up here."

Clarissa knew that couldn't be true, the 'nothing to report' part, and so she defiantly phased outside the door and into the night. She could see Fort Milner off in the distance, its lights bright. In fact, now that she surveyed the island, it had a lot more spotlights than she remembered. Eight different lights shot into the sky, scanning, patrolling. Several engines hummed, but they were far away. Clarissa figured they had to be aircraft. Pulling out one of her pocket cigarettes, she grabbed her Vietnam War lighter and raised it to her cigarette, cupping her hand around both as she tried to ignite. She took in the scenery for a few moments before she realized that she was doing it again, repeatedly striking the lighter, but the spark flew out by its lonesome, catching no fuel for a flame.

"I guess the forces of Nature don't fully apply in the Shallows," she reasoned to herself as she grabbed her pack of restaurant matches and lit up, confident that Edwards Island would suffer no Japanese air raids tonight. For a forgotten military post, the island sure could be beautiful. When it wasn't haunted by triangle ghosts. Clarissa pondered the mystery at hand. To here knowledge, October saw no major bloodshed this year. Kursk had ended in July, the invasion of Sicily wasn't a bloodbath, and the island hopping was a steady campaign. Drawing a blank, she groaned in frustration.

As much as she enjoyed it, and as much as she didn't want to, Clarissa finished her cigarette and went back inside. To her total and utter shock, Clarissa rolled her eyes at the terrible sight she bore witness to: Anna was now receiving a massage from Mags.

Clarissa wished she could puke on command, just to make a point. She figured she had to have made a mistake, a rare occurrence that Alex would never know had happened. Conveniently for her, things started to happen just as she was about to swim away.

The radio burst with life, its static growing violent and jumbled. "...in... wards... land... this...B-eighteen-B! ...ome in!"

The women went to work. Anna leapt out of the chair, with Maggie hopping in, manning the radio. Anna pulled up a second chair on her left, pen and paper ready. "Anti-submarine aircraft, this is Site Eighty-Two of Edwards Island, do you copy, over!" Mags radioed back, finger off the button as fast as she had pressed it.

Static rained down for what felt like hours until she finally got a reply. "Site...ghty-two... USO spot... can't... contac... _Roy_... USO... submerged, ov...!"

Anna had calmly but swiftly been writing down everything, annotating as she went. Watching over her shoulder, Clarissa saw that she even had possible completions of the sentence. Anna quickly shared her suggestions with Maggie.

Nodding, Maggie called back, slowly and deliberately giving pause after each word to account for any static. "Anti-submarine aircraft. Is. Your. Equipment. Damaged. Over." She quickly looked to Anna. "Which ships launched ASAs tonight, and which ones are in our sector? He said 'Roy', I reckon that's 'Walter Roy' he's tasked to. An' just what the hell is an unidentified submerged object doin' off the coast?"

"Let us see what we can see." Anna went to work, leaping from her chair and plowing through a filing cabinet next to their coffee and rifle.

There was a pause as Anna worked. Finally, the pilot answered back, "...gativ... ov...!"

Glancing at each other, the two shared looks of concern. Anna quickly found what she needed. "The _USS Walter Roy_ patrols our sector for the rest of the month. It's escorting an intercept carrier that launches ASAs," she summarized from one of the many files at her disposal. "Sixty miles off the coast."

Maggie went to work. "Anti-submarine-aircraft. You. Are. Being. Jammed. Give. Coordinates. Over!" As she let off her radio, she looked to Anna. "Get me the _Walter Roy's_ frequency."

Clarissa could tell that no triangle ghosts were at work tonight, but she reasoned that she just had to stick around for the show.

Anna had written down the designated frequency for Maggie just as the pilot managed his reply. "...our! One! By... minus... one! Tw... ive! Ov...!"

Anna didn't need to derive too many variations. She showed Maggie the list, who then radioed back, "ASA! Four. One. Minus. One. Two. Five. Correct? Over!"

"...correct! O..."

Anna quickly got back to the filing cabinet and pulled out maps. Maggie moved her hands around the radio's controls, switching and clicking too quickly for Clarissa to see exactly what she was doing.

"USS Walter Roy, this is Sergeant Adler of Site Eighty-Two on Edwards Island, can you confirm the livelihood of your pilot's status, over?" Maggie quickly asked. She looked back to Anna. "Got anything, Annie?"

Anna had a map. "Forty-one by negative one-two-five, it's in our sector and about forty miles off shore, North by Northwest."

"Edwards Island, this is the _Walter Roy_ , all pilots are out on patrol. What have you to report, over?" a younger man answered, his radio in perfect order and suffering no hostile effects.

" _Walter Roy_ , we just got a call from one of the ASA pilots assigned to your task force. Mentioned your ship by name. His transmission was garbled somethin' fierce, and I reckon it ain't the weather. He reported his equipment functional too. Can you confirm his last position as forty-one by minus one-two-five, over?" Maggie requested just as Anna laid the map next to the coffee and rifle.

There was a pause. Clarissa forgot to breathe and took a few deep breaths. The silence dragged on for almost a minute until finally the man replied, "Edwards Island, we cannot confirm his position, over."

Maggie wasted no time and immediately radioed back, " _Walter Roy_ , your Bolo managed to sight and report a USO to us at those coordinates. Do you know of any vessel in that immediate vicinity? It ain't none o' my business if it's a secret, but you gotta confirm if it's one o' ours first!"

"One of ours?" Anna asked, clearly concerned. "Who else could it be, Mags?"

"Japs, Gerries, Commies?" Maggie fired off without hesitation, looking to her partner. "We're not safe all the time, Annie. If it ain't one o' ours, it's gotta be-"

The man answered back, "Edwards Island, we can confirm that no vessels were scheduled to travel within those coordinates, over."

Maggie went back to her radio. " _Walter Roy_ , get your task force t'gether 'n find that USO. As of this minute, you're hereby authorized to search an' destroy!"

Anna was at Maggie's side before she realized it. Snatching the transmitter out of Maggie's hand, she radioed, "Belay that action, _Walter Roy_!"

"Annie, what in th' Goddamn Hell?!" Maggie demanded. She was out of her chair so fast, it flew back, phasing through Clarissa and smashing into the wall behind her. Though unharmed, Clarissa jumped in a vain attempt to dodge the chair, shrieking as she went.

"Say again, Edwards Island? Over," the young man asked, clearly confused.

A brief struggle ensued, but Anna had the height advantage. Keeping it out of Maggie's grasp, Anna shouted over Maggie's shouting, "Belay that order! Target may not be hostile! Ignore-!"

Maggie was shorter, but she made up for it in spirit. She got behind Anna, thrust her leg in between Anna's, and latched onto her torso, twisting and yanking the taller woman off balance. As she toppled over, Maggie dived for the transmitter. Snatching it up, Maggie called in, "Walter Roy, you-!"

 _KA-CHUNK!_

Clarissa nearly tore her hair out. Maggie stopped short. She almost raised her hands out of instinct. By the time she had gotten to her feet, Anna was already on hers, and she had the M1 Garand aimed at Maggie. Clarissa could clearly see that as it had unfolded, but Maggie had been turned away in the action.

"Swap us!" Anna shouted directly at Clarissa.

Screaming, Clarissa nearly jumped out of her skin. Right behind her was Anna Shea, in the flesh. The pain in her face was just a fraction of what was leaking out of her soul. "This was your plan?! To stop her from sinking the _Kanaloa_?!"

"No!" Clarissa hastily explained, "I was trying to stop her from making contact with them!"

Maggie turned around to face her own, present Anna. "Corporal Shea, you will eject that clip," she ordered, tone unwavering.

Shallows Anna grabbed Clarissa by the shoulders."Don't just bloody stand there! Swap me with my past self, for God's sake!"

Clarissa pushed herself into action. Leaping forward, she reached out to take hold of Anna in 1943. Clarissa fell right through her, slamming into the ground.

Anna's grip wasn't as strong as Maggie's, who made the rifle seem light. Her aim was shaky for other reasons, too. "Unfortunately... I... I am afraid I cannot allow you to deliver that order, Mags."

"Traitors can't tell me to do a damn thing," Maggie shot back.

Shallows Anna screamed, "Get up! Get the Hell up!" as she yanked Clarissa by the collar of her shirt. She slapped her twice across the cheek for good measure. "Swap us, hurry! We don't have long! I need to stop her!" she explained, tears streaming down her cheeks.

"I'm trying!" Clarissa screamed back. Over and over, she kept phasing through Anna. "I can't! I already pulled you! I-! I just-! I don't think multiple versions of you can co-exist in the Shallows!"

"Edwards Island, say again, over?" the man radioed again.

Current Anna gestured to the radio. "You... you will tell him to deploy search and rescue teams-"

"Hostile vessels-" Maggie tried to shoot back.

Anna desperately reasoned, "They're not-!"

"The Hell they ain't!" Maggie screamed. "You wanna be a traitor t' my country, get the Hell off my island! But so help me God, I'm sinkin' those Jap bastards, y'hear me?! Every last one o' them!"

Shallows Anna resorted to throwing herself at her past self, only to phase through just as Clarissa had done numerous times already.

"Should I- should I pull Mags?!" Clarissa asked Anna, terror spewing from her tone. Shallows Anna wanted to agree, but she couldn't bring herself to tell Clarissa to do it. Instead, she heaved, multiple times, unable to fully breathe. They both realized the eternal, undying death that would entail. Clarissa, who had always advocated killing one to save a hundred, now found herself ready and able to practice what she had preached. Yet, she needed Anna's permission to pull the trigger. Anna knew she should give the order. She looked to Mags and reached out, hand trembling.

In an act that changed everyone's lives forever, Shallows Anna had to drop her hand. "I-! I can't!" she admitted as the tears poured out.

Shaking her head, Anna exclaimed, "Your vendetta is blinding you to reason! It's logistically impossible for an enemy vessel to get this far without a means of resupply! They needed Midway, and they lost their chance months ago, Mags! It can't be Japanese!"

"They said that at Pearl Harbor!" Maggie remembered, all too clearly. "I'm gonna-"

"I won't let you!" Anna shouted back, aiming the rifle at her head.

"I outrank you!" Maggie screamed.

Shallows Anna broke down, collapsing onto the ground completely. Shrieking and sobbing, she was inconsolable. Clarissa knew it was up to her. She had to walk forward, grab Maggie Adler, and pull her into the Shallows. She had to trap her in an eternal, undying Hell that probably couldn't be escaped. She had to do that to another human being, to save more lives.

"Edwards Island, be advised, we will proceed with the last received recommendation, over."

Suddenly, Clarissa remembered her original plan. She surged forward and reached for the talking piece Maggie had in her hand. Clarissa briefly phased through that too. "Drop it!" Clarissa screamed to Maggie, frantically trying to grab it out of her hand without actually touching Maggie herself.

Maggie walked right up to the end of her own rifle, firmly pressing her chest against the barrel. Raising the transmitter to her mouth, she ordered, " _Walter Roy_ , you are clear t' search. And. Destroy. Sink every last one o' them yellow belly, buck-toothed bastards. They wanna die for a midget, who the Hell are we t' stop 'em? Over."

Chuckling, the man called back, "It's been a pleasure, Sergeant Adler. We'll save you a katana. Over and out."

Maggie dropped her transmitter and glared Anna. "Come here, now."

Lowering the rifle, Anna slowly trudged forward, defeat stricken across her face. When both stood before the radio equipment, Mags grabbed her M1 Garand.

Anna let Maggie pull it out of her hands. While Anna sat down on the floor, Maggie popped the chamber open, only to find it empty. Shock, confusion, and anger spread across her face. She stared down at Anna, who in turn stared into space.

"I pray to God I'm wrong," Anna murmured. "I mean it, Mags. I dare say we may all come to regret what unfolds before us."

Clarissa no longer had the strength to stand, and she fell to her knees.

Grunting, Maggie slammed her rifle down on the table. She didn't bother talking to Anna, instead radioing Control to report everything that happened. She took her time in describing how her partner had threatened to shoot her, ensuring that Control got every detail written down. Once she had confirmed that the MPs were on their way to arrest Corporal Shea, Sergeant Adler decided she could spare a minute to talk to her dishonorably-dischargable coworker.

"You didn't even load it," Maggie almost marveled, disgust mixed with pity. When it had mattered most, this woman had lacked the will to kill her for what she believed was right. "God as my witness, let me never see you again, Corporal Shea."

Upon hearing that, Shallows Anna had to leave. Picking herself up, she staggered out, phasing through the door and nearly tripping as she raced down the tower, tears spilling forth as she relived the terror of that night. Clarissa, seeing that her chance to change fate had passed, felt her presence was no longer needed in the tower. She sure as Hell didn't want to stay.

Cursing under her breath, Clarissa did three loops around the station, staring into the night. With just a few lights littering the wilderness of the island, she had a nearly impossible task on her hands. Instead of looking, Clarissa raced back to the ground and listened for the crying. After a few minutes, she finally found Shallows Anna wandering out in Epiphany Fields.

"Anna!" Clarissa called out, jogging after her. "Anna, wait!"

That pissed her off. Spinning around, Anna demanded, "You think you can control me?! And make me wait, of all things?! I find that rather hypocritical of you, child! Was it not you who chose to act on your own emotions, who could not be bothered to wait for _me_?! Perhaps you may have realized I could have provided insight into your shenanigans?!"

Catching up to her, Clarissa tried to explain, "I'm sorry! I didn't know how long you'd take! I wanted-"

"Yes, I'm quite familiar with that notion, what _you_ want!" Anna agreed, nodding along as she tried to dry her tears. "I dare say it might even be all you consider, Katie! You want to save me, you want to go stop the Sunken, you want to kill Mags, you you you!" she screamed.

"I didn't want to kill her! And those are good things!" Clarissa screamed back. "I'm trying to save everyone!" Scowling in frustration, she vented and tried to convince herself, "I could have just pulled Ma-"

Anna was all too happy to slap Clarissa again, throwing everything she had into it. "If you ever listen, listen now. I dare say you'll become a ghost of a ghost, child. Should you ever find yourself attempting to-"

Clarissa decided that three was enough. Utilizing her anger to its fullest, she grabbed the woman by the shoulders, sending her boot flying into Anna's crotch. "Shove it, you old hag! I had no choice!" Clarissa roared as the woman went down like a pile of bricks. More than happy to get even, she reared her other leg back and swung it like a golf club, smashing into Anna's head.

Rolling across the grass, Anna tried to get distance, buying time to catch her breath. Clarissa took too long in following up, and Anna had just enough time to roll onto her back, sizing her target up.

Clarissa was almost upon her, but Anna was faster, thrusting her leg out and smashed her foot into Clarissa's ankle, knocking her off balance as she was taking the final step. Anna was on her feet as Clarissa struggled to her own, giving Anna the chance she needed. She threw a right hook into Clarissa's face, forcing her down on the ground again. Unfortunately for Clarissa, she landed on her stomach. Anna was on top of her before she could react, and Clarissa started to scream as Anna used one arm to press on her neck and the other to hold her right arm in place.

Kicking, screaming, flailing, Clarissa could do nothing except struggle more and more for a breath of air.

After what felt like an hour to Clarissa, Anna slowly let off her neck, just barely giving her enough room to breathe.

As both calmed down, Anna took a much needed breath of her own. "I do thank you. For saving my life, Katie."

Clarissa groaned. She would have rolled her eyes, but half her face was already buried in dirt. Instead, she opted to screw her eyes shut and tried to imagine a knife or a gun to help her out.

"But the unpleasant truth of the matter is that we're stuck here. Possibly forever. I don't care if it's to save them or others. You can't abuse this power, no matter how tempting it may be," she lectured, still pinning the girl down.

"You wanted to swap!" Clarissa angrily recalled, her fighting spirit revived by the hypocrisy.

Shaking her head, Anna explained, "That's my own life! You already pulled me into this; I'm okay with sacrificing myself. But we don't have the authority to eternally damn others, not to fix my mistake, not to fix yours."

"Alright, whatever," Clarissa groaned, annoyed and disgusted both by the lecturing and by all the dirt that had fallen into her mouth amidst the conversation. "Next time I see someone dying, I'll let 'em die! Happy?!"

Anna was more than ready to debate the merits of action and inaction, one life over several, and such; however, both her and "Katie" were drawn to the night sky as a red lightning bolt flashed, giving a Hellish light that bathed everything in blood.

Clarissa screamed, thrashing so intensely that Anna leapt off her. "What in the bloody Hell?!" was all she could wonder.

"They said they could find me," Clarissa remembered, panic flooding her mind. "We need to go!"

"Agreed, but I'm not going with you," Anna revealed, backing away from Clarissa. To answer the question on the girl's mind, she preemptively explained, "They're hunting you. I suspect they want nothing from me. I'll find a way to contact Mags. You need to-"

"Hell no!" Clarissa screamed as static started bubbling out of the loudspeakers that lined the wilderness. "They're coming! Oh God, they're coming!" she heaved, tearing at her hair. "I gotta go, Anna, come on! Don't leave me alone, please!"

"My blueprints, child!" Anna shouted over Clarissa's panic. "If I can build another contact device, we can open up that triangle! Katie, listen to me!" she begged, backing further away. "You need to lead them away from me and buy me time!"

"Where do I lead them?!" she wondered, realizing that she would never truly have time to calm down if they could always find her this quickly. "I can't-!"

"Anywhere! Go back to your own time! The point still stands, we need to leave now!" Anna firmly reminded her. "I'll find you when I have something! Don't find me! Be safe, Katie!"

Clarissa had too much left to say, too many questions unanswered. But Anna vanished like smoke, swept away by the chilly October winds. She wanted to cry, but she knew she didn't have time. The static crept ever closer, the Sunken drawn in by that all too familiar sensation of despair. Closing her eyes, Clarissa focused on where she needed to go, when she needed to go. Despite the chaos of the moment, she was gone, swimming downstream.


	11. Chapter Eleven: Operation Citadel

The birds flew freely across a gloriously blue, bright sky that was dotted with picturesque clouds. Not a human could be heard, save for Clarissa's panicked hyperventilating; and that was drowned out by the crisp breeze that blew through the long, brown grass of Epiphany Fields. Ignoring the pain and terror that Clarissa was going through, she could at least feel some sense of pride and accomplishment in herself: After an eternity of time traveling, she could go when she wanted without losing consciousness. Granted, she still hadn't figured out how to jump to different locations, but she knew she at least had time on her side for the immediate future.

Clarissa pulled out her phone. She had swam to the present, successfully. At first, she was angry at her phone. Somehow, she had hoped that swimming to a time where her data plan was valid would grant her phone access to the internet. It was all a moot point; her phone was still dead. At the very least, she could confirm beyond a shadow of a doubt that she had learned, at least partially, to control her power. Now she just needed to steal a charger.

She wanted to grin, to laugh, to flip the world off. She wanted to revel in her victory over the triangle ghosts. In reality, she knew it wasn't some grand victory like the panzers rolling into Paris. It wasn't even a miraculous recovery like at Kharkov. No, she had learned how to stall, how to buy time, how to run away and catch her breath.

Clarissa set off for the electric fence, its gate firmly locked and alive with electricity. Rolling her eyes, she couldn't help but recall another piece of wisdom she had learned in history class. "If you fight too often with one enemy, you teach them how to beat you," Clarissa paraphrased Napoleon to herself, a sad smile falling over her face; this time, the one person she could share her interest with wasn't around to nerd out about it. Indeed, Michael had loved the romance of the Napoleonic era, thanks in part to the "Waterloo" film; she had secretly loved the brutality of the second World War, thanks entirely to her own fantasies of power and control over others.

Taking a deep breath, Clarissa shivered in the onset of winter, a sharp gust of wind slicing through her skin. If the Sunken had taught her how to buy time, she knew that she was teaching them how to track her down. With each escape she made, they were getting better at finding her again. Clarissa wondered a few things: How much time did she have left, how much more could she buy, and how was Anna going to save her? Specifically, how was making another radio going to stop the Sunken?

Clarissa reached the fence and phased through it without so much as a thought.

As she broke into a jog, she saw the Adler estate in the distance, the house abandoned and consumed by fog; she wasn't sure if Anna would even come back for her. The lady clearly didn't care that much about her until she suddenly needed Clarissa to play decoy. "Bitch doesn't even know my name!" Clarissa screamed into the wind, kicking her boot into the dirt. She stopped. She walked back to the small rock she had missed and firmly kicked it into the Shallows.

Scared, frustrated, and freezing, Clarissa mourned the loss of her jacket and cursed the destruction of her pocket cigarettes, their contents smeared and dispersed from the struggle back in the fields. "I'll just have to wing it," she grunted to herself as she set off for town. "Katie. Who hears 'Katie' from 'Clarissa', anyway." The hatred warmed her up, though she hadn't yet realized it.

The town was nearly empty. An island resort doesn't pull in many people in the winter months, but that was how Clarissa and Michael liked it. Especially now, it was how Clarissa needed it. Even if the clock was ticking, Clarissa knew she would have some warning. Despite the danger, she was still mentally exhausted. She was more than ready to reminisce about her romance and develop plans on reliving it, but that itch in her brain had turned into ravenous clawing. She had her heart set on the one shop that sold cigarettes, the one next to the office next to that damn statue. Her jogging evolved into a sprint.

Only she ran smack dab into Alex and Nona, strolling down the empty streets. She had rounded the corner so quickly that she almost made contact with them. Out of terror and shock, she dived out of their way, very dramatically but rather pointlessly. The two were several feet away. And going in the same direction as Clarissa was going. Scrambling to her feet, Clarissa let loose a string of curses on her misfortune. "Ghosts in my back, the twerp in my front," she grunted to herself as she smoothed out her hair and her frayed nerves. "Why are you stealing everyone from me?!" she screamed out to Alex, stalking up to the two girls.

The picturesque scene infuriated her. With a brown beanie keeping her head warm, Nona had wrapped the rest of herself up in her usual top and fresh jeans. Fuzzy brown boots to complete her winter look. In stark contrast, Alex wore Michael's jacket unbuttoned. For the rest, tan cargo pants and mud-stained construction boots had apparently been assembled haphazardly for the day's adventure. The two strolled along the sidewalk, hands linked and lightly swaying with their steps.

Nona had clearly worn off onto Alex, Clarissa noted. The girl kept her own head warm with a very bright, very red beanie.

Clarissa figured she had jumped into the Shallows and swam on her emotions. She hadn't tried to make an exact dive. Winter weather meant she was in the future; that craving for nicotine had blinded her from realizing it earlier.

"You two got over this haunting business too fast," she growled as she stalked behind the two girls. "At least it all blows over, I guess. Wonder where your new victim is," she spat, looking around for any signs of Jonas. His own beanie, a ploom of smoke, splashing in water and going under forever, the usual signs of Alex's brothers.

"What about this?" Nona asked, stopping their stroll and pointing at a shop's window. "Think he'd like it?"

Alex leaned in, picking at the top of her beanie. "Doesn't Jonas already have a dream catcher? From his birthday? 'Cause you gave him one?"

Clarissa groaned as Nona giggled. The two said a word starting with 'F', but Nona said, "Fun times. I think he'd like another one."

Shrugging, Alex decided, "Okay, you can get him another one. I'll get him something he wants. Then he can be excited and disappointed in one day!" Aggressively scratching at her beanie, she ran circles around Nona as the shorter girl tried to slap her, the two laughing and shrieking as Alex played keep-away. "Time out, time out!" she begged as Nona cornered her against the door of the office on Main Street.

Clarissa wondered what she could even do to Alex, besides pull her into Hell with her. Hell was bad enough, but suffering in Hell with Alex at her side was the one fear that kept her from doing it. With so many thoughts rattling in her brain, she wondered if it was possible to vomit out of the Shallows and into reality. "Clearly my sass has rubbed off on her," she grunted to herself as Alex put her hands on her beanie. Clarissa suddenly felt very sick when Alex tore off her beanie in frustration, letting free a head of scarlet red hair, cut just like Clarissa's.

"Much better!" Alex sighed in relief as she furiously scrubbed at her scalp. Dancing into the empty street, arms out and hair fluttering in the cutting breeze.

"Don't you like it?" Nona asked, tentatively petting at the girl's head, refusing to abandon their intimacy for even a moment.

Vigorously shaking her head like a dog, Alex laughed. "Of course I do! You gave it to me, dear!" she conveniently recalled, emphasizing her 'dear' just the way Clarissa would do it. Stuffing it into her back pocket, she explained, "It just itches my brain box somethin' fierce!" She took Nona's hands into her own, intertwining their fingers as they gazed into each other's eyes, joy and a knowing grin on Nona's face and a heavily-burdened smile on Alex. "I love it, I do! Just like I love you!" she sincerely reminded the shorter woman.

Clarissa couldn't stay on her feet anymore. She had to sit down, toppling like a stack of bricks. She had ignored the island's Park Office her whole life; now, it was going to hold her steady as she passed out in shock. The love-hate relationship wasn't lost on Clarissa, who proceeded to forget how to breathe properly. She was all for amping up drama to drive home how she felt, but she actually felt nauseous. She wasn't even on an actual roller coaster, just an emotional one. She almost wanted to cry; here she was, sitting on the sidewalk, watching her best friend kissing her worst enemy.

The young lovers parted lips and stared intensely into each other's eyes, smiling ever so blissfully. Suddenly. Alex turned her smile into a glare, and Nona did the same. After about fifteen seconds, Nona broke; she started giggling, smile blooming ear to ear. Alex won again, and the two shared one more kiss. Clarissa stared in confusion, breath harsh and eyes welling up. She and Michael did the same thing. Now, Alex had stolen that too.

"Thanks again," Alex muttered as they rested their heads against each other. "For coming back, to the island. I know it's not the same, but this place-"

"Changed your life, gave you new opportunities, let you be more than you were before," Nona droned on, ever so lovingly. She pulled Alex as close to her as she could manage, standing on her tiptoes. "I know, you've said it many, many times."

"But it's true!" Alex laughed, swaying back and forth with Nona in her arms. "We were all challenged-"

"You were challenged," Nona corrected, content to burrow her face into Alex's jacket, especially with a sudden gust of cold wind cutting up against her. "And Jonas. I just ran around, and Ren-"

"Didn't even share his stupid pot brownies, the nerve of that guy," Alex interrupted. The two shared a laugh over it, nonetheless.

Sighing, Nona held Alex close, listening to her heart beat; she tried to, at least. There were too many layers for the weather. "Sometimes... I feel like we never made it out alive."

"The four... the four of us..." Alex trailed off, face growing bitter. She rubbed her hands up and down Nona's arms, lost in thought. "We had to make sacrifices."

"Yeah, but you did most of the leg work," Nona complimented, trailing her fingers along the thread patterns in Michael's jacket. "You should've tried out for the track team."

Scoffing, Alex shivered as the wind sliced through her bright, red hair. "I knew a girl with legs that went on for miles."

Clarissa couldn't bear to hear any more. Her fury at Alex's implications was overridden by Nona's total lack of care for Clarissa, her real best friend. She tried to bury her head into her hands and just squeeze the tears out, but Nona's laugh drew her head up again. Alex was going for her butt, hands in a squeezy mood of their own.

"Alex!" Nona shrieked as it was her turn to play keep away. "Not in public! We're never gonna find Jonas a Christmas- _ALEX_!" she screamed as Alex kept up and chased the girl down the street, to which Alex screamed back a justification for adoring such a round rear.

Clarissa sat on the sidewalk for several minutes, the chilling wind no longer affecting her, the silence deafening. She cried in what she considered to be a very pathetic way, sniffling as she sobbed and hiccupping with every breath. She hadn't cried like that since she was a little child who lost their favorite toy; only now, she had lost Nona. And it wasn't just losing Nona, it was knowing that Nona would never miss her. Even if she died in this version of the future, Nona was okay with it. Somehow, her last and true friend had been twisted into a heart-struck lover of Clarissa's greatest foe.

But it was all too familiar to her already. She'd seen Orange-Haired Alex in the exact opposite state, broken and on the edge of a panic attack. If anything, that Alex had been as close to how Clarissa was feeling ever since the night had started; the two should have shared in the struggle. Clarissa then remembered that she had tried to do just that, only for a sudden and convenient headache to stop her in her tracks. Shaking that thought aside, Clarissa wiped away her tears as her thoughts of Alex turned to anger. If Alex, at her absolute worst, could steal away a Nona who had legitimately fallen in love with Clarissa, then it made perfect sense that an Alex operating at levels of confidence and sass to rival Clarissa could steal the heart of any version of Nona. Clarissa had to wonder if there was an alternate reality for every mix-and-match of sexuality between the five of them, and why Alex seemed to be at the center of all of them.

This, in turn, drove her to dig up all her rage that had been suppressed now and then by the whole time traveling fiasco. Alex was always in control, always forcing Clarissa to respond and react. Just as a matter of principle, Clarissa loathed being on the defensive; this was being forced into practice by her worst enemy. But it wasn't just stealing Nona away. Alex wasn't the first person to steal a friend away. It went beyond stealing away her last, true friend. Alex had stolen the life of a good man, a man with a loving family and a woman who had been trying to become a part of his family. And she had done it all because she had lost the war. Clarissa had triumphed over Alex, and Alex knew it all too well. It was a simple chain of events, impossible to misinterpret: Clarissa asks Michael to move in with her, in their own place, pursue their own dreams; Michael tells Alex he's moving away, leaving her all by her sad, pathetic lonesome self; she lures him to Edwards Island, pulls him into Horn Lake, and drowns him; but only when Clarissa goes out of town. It had been Alex's own Nero Decree: Destroy anything of value to prevent Clarissa from using it. Only this time, there had been no architect to secretly not implement the order.

At the very least, Clarissa felt she wasn't technically alone anymore. If there were multiple, alternate realities where the one common denominator was that Alex, heinous at heart or pitiful in spirit, was screwing Clarissa over, then all the different Clarissas could join arms, form a circle, surround all the Alex clones, and stomp them to death.

" **Found! You!"**

Shrieking, Clarissa leapt up from the sidewalk, wheeling around to see the TV in the store window bathed in a staticy signal, blood red and angry. Sparks flew out the back as the ghostly being inside roared to life. Clarissa staggered back, caught off guard by just how rapidly they had adjusted their tactics, from announcing their arrival in the sky to sneaking up on her. Despite the terror, it was a familiar dance to her. She prepared to dive into the Shallows again, swimming away by at least a decade.

" **Alex!"** the TV boomed to her. " **Can be... stopped..."**

Clarissa was suspicious, but she remained where she was. And then scooted far to her right, angling away from the office building. Despite the initial promise, she kept her wits about her. She kept eyes and ears open for any static and any glowing red doom that might pop up around her. Reducing the number of fronts she had to defend, Clarissa backed up to the protective railing planted on the cliffside, overlooking the parking lot. Even though it was probably a defenseless measure, she positioned herself behind a street lamp, just for an extra layer of protection.

" **We all... want this... Cla-ris-sa."**

Though she was grateful that someone, or rather something, could recall her name correctly, Clarissa was not about to take the giant wooden horse at her doorstep. "Why the hell should I trust you?! You threw me and everyone else into this mess! I saw you do it! In the cave!"

" **We were... alone..."** they explained to her, static waves slowing down as both parties mellowed into a conversation. " **The wo-man... Anna... opened... our... door... disturbed our... slumber..."**

Clarissa racked her brain for the exact words that had been exchanged in that fateful conversation. "No... no, you got mad at her. You asked about leaving your dimension or whatever. And then you started bringing the cave down on her and Maggie. Don't go telling me you were just trying to go back to bed!"

" **Anna... did not... hurt us... Alex... does!"**

There was a slight hum in the air, like a channel losing its signal and cutting out. Tilting her head, Clarissa cautiously asked, "How? You're... whatever you are. How's she hurting you?"

" **She dis-rupts... our slum-ber..."** they spoke, staticy waves tearing up and rapidly moving across the screen. " **We can't... com-mun-i-cate... with her... she dis-rupts... our signal... But. You."**

Clarissa believed she was a bit smarter than she actually was in the moment. "But you can talk to me. Well that still doesn't change the fact that I'm stuck here. I can't even jump around like you can; I have to run everywhere. You put me here, Mister Ghost. You want me to kill her? You have to take me out of this place."

" **We... will..."** they assured her.

Clarissa was still skeptical. It was exactly what she wanted to hear, and she knew that they knew she wanted to hear it. "Okay, not that I'm not grateful; but I still can't trust you. And even if I could, you gotta take Anna out-" Clarissa thought about it. She was just a victim of all this; Anna had directly caused all of it to happen, from Clarissa's perspective. She decided it wasn't a good idea making the ghosts look after Anna and help her out of this place since they were blaming her. "You have to let me go get her and bring her back to her time while I'm at it. Okay?"

" **Yes... we wanted... to find... you both... We will... teach you... what you... need... to know,"** they continued to promise.

"Fantastic," Clarissa uneasily agreed. "You know, you could've done this a lot sooner. Like, when it happened sooner."

" **This was... the first... time it... ever hap-pened... trust us..."** they revealed, that low hum in the air evolving into a louder growl. " **We were... sur-prised... too..."**

Clarissa scoffed at the remark. At least they had something in common. "Okay, how do I jump around like you do? I can already swim to different times but not different locations."

" **...Start... small,"** they explained. " **Look... up..."**

Clarissa did as she was instructed. "It's a lamp post," she remarked.

" **Focus... on...** ' _ **swimming'...**_ **to it..."** they told her. " **It is... possible... see... your-self... there... then be... there..."**

Clarissa was a little concerned about appearing up there, losing her balance, and then falling to her death. But she was dead-set on getting Anna and herself out of here. She'd go find that woman, drop her off in her own time, and she'd slap her and scream, "My name is Clarissa, bitch!" Then, she'd go back to that night on the beach and push Alex into that fire. All she had to do first was jump up to that lamp post.

If she couldn't do it, because she knew she couldn't do it, then Clarissa just had to know that she could do it. She'd done it before. She could do it again. This time, it took her ten minutes to figure it out. But eventually, she was able to visualize herself, perched on that lamp post. As she visualized it, she blinked. When she opened her eyes, she was up there, perched like a parrot. She could look out, over the parking lot, and the waves of the Pacific. It was almost beautiful.

"Just so you know," she called back to the TV in the window. "There are a lot of different timelines. I'd love to kill a million Alex clones, but there would be more."

" **We just... need the... one..."** they growled back. " **Now... finish it... go... to Alex,"** they murmured in her ear.

And just like that, she was gone.


	12. Chapter Twelve: Operation Husky

Clarissa didn't wake up, but she felt like she had fallen asleep. She was still on the lamp post, but something was different. That cold wind was replaced with a warm breeze, and Clarissa could clearly see that the surrounding grass and trees were getting ready for the warmer months. From her own experience, she deduced that it wasn't yet Spring Break; otherwise, the island would be swamped with people. Such was the life cycle of Edwards Island, total isolation between January to March and September to December. Looking around, Clarissa's eyes quickly fell upon the small dock that held the ferry. It had apparently finished dropping off its passengers, as it was setting off for the mainland.

Clarissa shimmied her way down the lamp post, miraculously avoiding injury. An inner rage boiled up, the likes of which she'd never experienced before. "I will... kill her..." she murmured to herself, setting off for the beach.

As she walked down Main Street, she observed a few things. The street had been repaved, the potholes finally filled. The shops were more vibrant, though closed nonetheless; they had been stocked with more goods for more tourists. The statue honoring the Sunken had been polished and chained off; its plaque had been replaced with one that did not advertise a radio tour guide channel. Clarissa took the tunnel to the beach, the same tunnel she'd woken up in when all of this had started; it had been painted by talented street artists, vibrant pictures of children and families playing on the beach painted all along the walls, like a miniature Sistine Chapel. Despite the terrible time she had been having overall, Clarissa had to admit that the island had received a much needed facelift, one that would have taken plenty of money. And time. She wondered how much time, exactly.

She didn't have too long to ponder it. She emerged on the other side, taking in Beacon Beach. Its sandy nature was still intact, but the mouth to the cave had been sealed off entirely, collapsed by explosives from the looks of it. Of course, all the details of its innately beautiful landscape paled in comparison to the grand prize of the whole campaign. Like the spires of the Kremlin, Alex was right in front of her, just a few precious steps away. That insufferable brat, that murderous beast, she stood there, looking out across the ocean. She didn't move a muscle, as if she was asking for retribution. She wore red, but Clarissa could tell that it wasn't Michael's jacket; it was slender, form-fitting. Alex still wore jeans, but her hair was no longer teal, orange, or red; it was auburn, the hair God gave her.

Alex had kept Clarissa's haircut. It was a firm reminder that Clarissa was here to finally kill Alex. Looking around the mouth of the tunnel, she found a piece of pipe, almost three feet long. It was rusted and jagged on the end, but it was heavy enough. Grip tightened, she walked with confidence. She closed the distance, ready to make the direct assault on Moscow. But when she was just fifteen inches away, she was finally stopped.

"Nona!" Alex pleaded, pain in her voice. With her phone in her left hand, she thrust her right hand into her hair. "Nona- No- Nona! I... yes... yes... no, Nona-" she kept up, only to be shot down again and again. "I love you!"

Clarissa was transfixed. She kept telling herself, over and over again, to kill Alex, to strike her down, to end all of this for good. But if Nona was on the other end, it would just have to wait. She would never, ever put Nona through the pain of listening to a painful death of someone she cared about. Still, the screaming urge to end Alex persisted.

"Please!" Alex begged over the phone. "I still want you in my life, Nona! I'm sorry. You mean so much to me, and I'll always think of you as a friend! You've given me the happiest moments in my life, and I'll always cherish them! But... this is it. I'm not staying"

Clarissa stood so close to Alex, breath held. Nona was clearly giving Alex a piece of her mind, as the girl kept trying to say her own piece; Nona kept interrupting. Alex was reduced to sniffling.

"No. My mind is made up... yes... no... Nona-" Finally, after a few more minutes, Alex nodded. "Okay. Goodbye, Nona. I'll always- ah, God damn it!" she screamed into the ocean.

Clarissa waited for Alex to hang up and let her sulk for a minute, just for good measure. Seeing her start to kick her shoe into the sand, Clarissa scoffed, "That sounded rough, Alex."

Alex wheeled around so quickly that she gave her neck a crick. Her phone fell out of her hand, and she stared at Clarissa, eyes wide and skin suddenly pale. She couldn't even focus on breathing.

Clarissa, in contrast, had all the time in the world to savor the moment. Alex had clearly grown up an inch or two. Facing her almost head-to-head, she could see the girl's upgraded wardrobe. The red jacket was a fancy, red business blazer; going by the way it hugged her body it was custom tailored. The polished, shiny belt that held her jeans looked just as expensive, and the white buttoned shirt was a clean, pricy kind she'd expect to see at a career fair. The shoes were still the same, muddy boots; but Clarissa figured that Alex must have had shoes for not-sandy conditions. She glanced at the phone Alex had dropped. It was big, new, and expensive.

Alex looked at Clarissa like she had known her for an eternity; and yet, she also looked at her as if she were a complete stranger, unsure of who she really was.

"Sucks, doesn't it?" Clarissa wondered, glaring at Alex, who was still in such a state of shock that she could not convince her body to move. "Losing someone you love? Sure does hurt. Alot. You want to go to the end with them, but you never will."

"You're... actually you?" Alex shook her head, first slowly but quickly accelerated her pace. Brown hair swishing back and forth, she stammered, "No. No, no, no, you're not you, and you're not real. I'm imagining you. I deserve this, so I'm imagining it's you who's beating me down."

Laughing, Clarissa raised her pipe, batting in against the palm of her left hand. "Well, you're only half wrong!"

Alex finally saw the weapon. "Shit." Even if she hadn't been armed, only the real Clarissa could fire back with pun-oriented sass like that.

Nodding, Clarissa smiled wide, showing off her pearly whites. Nodding her head like an eager dog, she happily agreed, "Shit!"

Shaking her head, Alex persisted, "You're not real." Raising a finger, she backed away and dramatically pointed at Clarissa. "Stay away from me!" ordered as her shoes began to slosh into the mud.

Laughing, Clarissa looked around. Sure of her chances, she demanded, "You think you can control me?!"

Eyes wide, Alex fired back, "I've done worse, Clarissa. I killed you. I wiped you out of reality."

That triggered the memories on Main Street. Clarissa kept her ground. "You must have done a fantastic job. Nona sure didn't seem to mind."

A lot of painful expressions flashed across Alex's face. Clarissa knew those bags under her eyes hadn't been there before. Taking a much needed breath, Alex explained, "It wasn't- no, not literally. I- I... the ghosts-"

It was Clarissa's turn to hold her breath.

"They needed you," Alex explained. "They needed a body to inhabit, to save themselves!"

And then it was Clarissa's turn to go pale. The terror she felt was suddenly overcome with a calm rage, like a warm blanket wrapping around her.

"But I tried to save you!" Alex told her, standing fast. Exhaustion suddenly overcame her. "I-! I fought! I fought for so long, Clarissa! So many times. In so many ways." As she recalled the countless loops, she recalled the pain when she finally accepted defeat. Grimacing, she assured Clarissa, "I tried to save everyone! Everything I did, it was to get us out alive, but I couldn't beat them, Clarissa! I had to surrender you to them," she revealed, slumping as the pain came back to her face as she desperately clutched her own sides. "But I always wanted to help you!"

"Help me?" Clarissa wondered incredulously. "'Help me'! How did that help me?!" she demanded, stretching her arms outwards. "You sold me out to them! That's the opposite of-!"

"I had no other choice!" Alex screamed back. "You weren't there! You didn't see-!"

"Oh, believe me, child!" Clarissa assured her as she brandished the pipe at her. "I saw more than I ever wanted to see."

Alex persisted, "It wasn't about just you! Nona, Jonas, Ren! We've gone through-!"

"Gone through what?" Clarissa shot back. "They're children! They've gone through nothing!"

"We went through Hell!" Alex loudly corrected her.

"I've been living in Hell with a woman from the fifties for an eternity!" Clarissa one-upped her. To that, Alex fell into a silent shock. "And I've seen you in action, child! I've seen you steal away my Nona across a shit-tonne of dimensions! You think you've gone through Hell? You run the joint! You deserve this just for the way you treat her!"

"I love her," Alex strained, moving her hands to lock with each other, wriggling nervously. "I didn't mean to hurt her. I didn't- I can't lose my job."

To that, Clarissa had to laugh. "You steal my last friend away from me?! And break up with her over a job?! No, please, tell me more. I need to hear this," she instructed, motioning with the pipe like it were an instructor's pointing stick. A headache spiked in the back of her brain, her rage demanding that she kill Alex.

"I... I'm moving. To Dallas," Alex revealed. "Lockheed Martin wants me... working full time."

Whistling, Clarissa nodded along. "Of course! The biggest defense contractor, slash aerospace supergiant in the world wants you, the almost-highschool-dropout."

Frowning, Alex showed actual offense to that. "I finished my master's in mechanical engineering last December!"

And just like that, Clarissa was on the defensive again. "Bullshit!"

"Far from it!" Alex shot back. "I passed my F.E. and my P.E. exams, and I interned for them last year!"

Clarissa had to take it all in. Assuming Alex hadn't suffered any setbacks in her degree plan, that was two more years of high school, followed by six in college. And she couldn't fully accept that Alex had meant what she'd said on Main Street, that giving up Clarissa had made her try so much harder at life. This child had gone from a rebellious and edgy teen to a functioning adult, one who had apparently developed an eight year relationship and a prosperous career in the works. If it had been anyone else, anyone other than Alex, Clarissa would have been moved by the thought that her death could inspire someone to leap to a level of greatness she herself would probably never attain.

She had to kill her, obviously, but she couldn't help but wonder why she'd gone so far into the future. Only, she didn't go here on her own; she had been pushed, by forces that were clearly not on her side. "You sold me out to them. But they taught me how to move, to-"

Eyes going wide, Alex pushed past the terror behind that last sentence and realized, "You're not working on your own. They took you. Now they've come back." Breath growing faint, she realized, "I thought it finally- you don't know how many times I fought! But the loop never stopped! You were soaking this whole time! To you, this is all just a few hours after that night!"

Growing concerned, Clarissa asked, "How did you know it was them? The ghosts?"

"I've done this a few times. But now I don't have a radio to end this again." Alex launched herself forward, forcing Clarissa back. "Please, drop the stick," she begged. "If they sent you to kill me, they now know you don't have the heart. You'll-"

Raising her pipe, Clarissa felt the world go murky and red. She sunk into the warm blanket and started to doze off. Alex was like a noisy alarm that needed to be smashed into pieces; luckily for her, she had a heavy pipe to do the job. "No more... heart... than... you!" she sleepily murmured.

Alex jumped back as Clarissa swung at her. The murderous beast tried to evade, but Clarissa was faster and beamed her on the head. "Shit! Snap out of it!" Alex screamed, her voice slowly being drowned out by the gentle, rocking waves. "Clarissa! Fight it!" she begged as she made a mad dash for the tunnel, clutching her head as blood trickled down onto the sand behind her.

Clarissa gave chase. With her superior physical prowess, she closed the distance Alex had put between them. As Alex reached the Kanaloa Statue at the top of the stairs, Clarissa caught her, violently swinging at the girl's legs and tripping her. Eating concrete, Alex could do little more than wildly kick in Clarissa's direction as the pipe came down upon her again and again, drawing more blood as its jagged edge sliced into her skull, face, and neck. Landing a hit in Clarissa's crotch, Alex bought enough time to get to her feet. As Clarissa staggered back, Alex went for the stick, to which Clarissa fought back ferociously, toppling them both. As Alex fell atop her, the two scraped and rolled on their sides, hands and arms locking up as they fought for control. They rolled about and pushed each other down the road a few meters, coming to the lamp post where Clarissa had started.

Content to stay in the warmth forever, Clarissa overpowered Alex. Rolling on top of her, she brought the bar down to the smaller girl's neck and put all of her weight on it. Alex kicked and screamed, desperately trying to push back. As Clarissa bore down on her, the scream died down to a gasp, and from that it faded to a heavy moan. She stared up at Clarissa, never once blinking; the terror in her eyes faded to glazed apathy as blood flowed freely from her skull, face, and mouth.

"I was looking forward to seeing you," Clarissa murmured as she felt the warmth enveloping her soul. Her senses numbed as she nodded off, content to sleep forever. "Yes... I used to dream about something like this."

Then, the warmth was gone, yanked away like blankets off her bed on a frigid winter morning. Doused in snow, Clarissa was sharply awoken by Nona of all people shouting, "Clarissa! Can you-! Can you hear me?!"

Clarissa looked around, her mind tearing itself apart as the headache returned. She couldn't see Nona, but she could feel her. She was close. And she was calling for her, begging for her. It had been an eternity since Clarissa had even heard Nona's voice; but this time she was wanting her, not Alex. She looked down at the girl, who had lost most of her strength to fight. Clarissa knew she had to finish the job that they had told her-

The pain in her head roared to life. She pushed through it, in the heat of the moment, realizing that they had misled her, used her, and were clearly overriding her own thoughts. As much as she wanted to finish the job-

The pain redoubled, and she felt herself thrust back down on Alex's throat. This time, Alex let go of the pipe all together, mouth ajar as she gasped one last time, gargling and spitting up her own blood.

"Kill... her..." Clarissa mumbled, the warmth quickly enveloping her again.

Nona called out, "Clarissa! Can you come down?!"

The warm blankets were frozen over. "I... am not... your _machine_!" Clarissa screamed through grit teeth, eyes twitching and head craning as she jumped off Alex entirely, tossing the pipe over the cliffside. As a sharp clanging sound echoed from the parking lot, Clarissa clawed at her eyes. "Who's... pulling?!" she demanded, wondering why the ghosts were pulling her in one burning direction, while someone else was pulling at her in another, freezing direction. She didn't have long to think on it.

Alex stared at her with some essence of a smile. Laying on the ground, she focused on getting her breath back and barely had the strength to sit up. "At least you... don't have... red eyes... anymore," she coughed, spitting out a mouthful of blood.

A killer headache drilled into her brain, but Clarissa's resolve was unbreakable. Flinching, staggering, she held her ground and refused to bend. Glaring at Alex, she shook her head and told her, "This is not mercy."

Alex didn't get a chance to reply. Clarissa was gone.


	13. Chapter Thirteen: Operation Baytown

Clarissa hadn't had the flu in years, but she remembered the sensation of waking up from a cough syrup coma. Fifteen hours of deep sleep, slowly breaking open her crusty, yet damp eyes, swallowing hard on a dry throat, just wishing for death. The vivid memory was only so fresh in her mind, because she woke up reliving it. Staring into the night sky, her vision came back to her, slowly. The world around her, what few sounds were available, disentangled themselves and danced into her ear drums.

Alex. Of course, it was Alex who was talking, she thought. She recognized the voice; she would always recognize the voice. But Alex was away, not right next to her, but not that far away either. As her hearing came back to her, along with her sight, she could hear a much more pleasant sound right next to her head.

"She's- I think so. Clarissa?" Nona almost begged, "Are you okay?"

Clarissa focused her vision on the woman above her. She stared directly into Nona's eyes, those beautiful, shiny hazel eyes. No wonder half the world had gone black, Clarissa scoffed internally. Nona's glossy, long hair had draped down all over her face. In Nona's haste to perch Clarissa's head onto her lap, she hadn't moved it off her cheeks. It hung about her like a jungle, but that was just part of Nona's beautiful face.

"I'm fine," Clarissa sighed. She was exhausted, sore, and angry; but she was content to lay there forever. "I can- I'm fine."

Nona let out a breath she didn't know she was holding. "You scared the crap out of us," she breathed, her grip on Clarissa's shoulders tightening.

"Mmm," Clarissa moaned. "Get my muscle knots while you're at it," she begged, a smile growing across her cheeks. It had been a while since she'd worn a smile from happiness, and not one from petty spite.

"Oh thank god, you're okay," Alex breathed in relief, hands falling from her face to her side. In her right hand, she clutched that damned radio.

That broke the moment for Clarissa, which Nona could see on her face, plain as day. "We were both- she got you down," Nona quickly told her as the two got up.

"I'm fine. I can- I'm fine," Clarissa grunted in assurance as she got to her feet, patting Nona on the head for emphasis. The shorter girl, normally feisty about such violations of her personal space, oddly welcomed it. She wasn't sure how she could just blurt out and ask if Nona had secretly liked her this whole time. "I miss my jacket," she groaned as a cold wind swept over her.

Alex stepped forward. "Do you remember anything that happened?"

Clarissa took a moment to examine Alex. She had her brother's jacket, her cyan hair, and didn't seem to be in a particularly sassy mood. "I remember a lot more than you do," she confidently assured her. "The real question is: Do you remember what I remember?"

Alex wasn't sure of herself anymore. "I- what? Run that by me again."

Slowly nodding, Clarissa briefly looked back at Nona before staring at Alex again. "Did you spit on me at the beach?"

Eyes going wide, Alex blurted out, "What the Hell! No, Clarissa! I didn't-!"

Shaking her head, Clarissa raised a hand. "Okay, great! Here's another one: Do you remember trying to be friends with me in Maggie's house?"

Cocking her head Alex racked her brain for anyone in school named Maggie. "I don't- Maggie? Maggie Adler?"

It was Clarissa's turn to express confusion. Scratching her cheek, she wondered, "Did you not- have you not been in Maggie Adler's house?"

Shaking her head, Alex shrugged her shoulders. "We're here to get her keys."

"For her boat!" Nona helpfully added, her spirits raised as she remembered the mission they were on. "But the lost and found always has random clothes in it, too. Let's find you a jacket while we're here!"

Raising her hands, Clarissa motioned for Alex and Nona to come closer. She wrapped an arm around each of them, prompting both to stared at everyone else in a big, confusing triangle. "I'm going to ask a few more questions, and you two need to be honest with me, okay?"

They both found it rather bizarre but slowly nodded along. Satisfied with their level of commitment, Clarissa asked, "Alex. Do you like Nona?"

"Shit," she answered, scrunching her lips.

Nona barely had time to go wide-eyed at Clarissa, only for her to be shocked again by Alex. "What?!" she gasped, looking back and forth between the two of them.

Nodding, Clarissa sighed, "Okay, that doesn't change. Nona! Focus up. I know you haven't really talked to her, but do you think she's cute?"

"I- you- how- hey!" Nona yelled, disentangling herself from Clarissa and backing off a few paces. "You can't- this isn't even 'Truth or Slap' anymore!"

Unintentionally, Alex and Clarissa shared a laugh, but they promptly split apart. Grunting, Clarissa cleared her throat and told Nona, "You like her back! I saw how you turned down Reginald! This isn't that, child!"

"Shut up!" Nona laughed back. "Maybe I do, what's it to you!"

Alex nearly choked on her own laughter when Clarissa declared, "Because I think you've liked me for a while too."

The hearty atmosphere fell quiet.

Nona considered her options before quietly asking, "What gave you that impression?" She kept a poker face as Clarissa tried to gauge her response.

Pointing towards the parking lot behind her, Clarissa said, "I remember a... version of events tonight, where you threw pictures of us kissing into a fire."

Eyes widening, Alex gawked, "There were pictures?!"

Rolling her eyes, Clarissa elaborated, "It was a photo booth thing."

Nona took it in. Swallowing hard, she had to know, "Why... would I destroy that?"

Sighing, Clarissa shook her head. "It's a long story. I don't know how long I have-"

"Woah! What?!" Alex and Nona interrupted, both equally alarmed at her. Scared and intrigued, both started to ask her for more information, but Clarissa wasn't having it.

"So I need to sort this out!" Clarissa yelled over the both of them. "You think it's bad when you have to follow up on someone? Try doing it across dimensions!"

Alex fell silent at that. She reexamined Clarissa, wondering too many things at once.

Sighing, Clarissa ran a hand through her hair. "I know what I need to do; I don't know what you kids are gonna do in my... absence. Nona, you like us both. Alex, you like Nona. Nona, I-"

Clarissa felt her heart twisting. She couldn't bare to say it alone, so she pulled Nona into a hug. "I won't be around forever." That twisting sensation began to spread, an all too familiar warmth spreading over herself. "So you need to- I'm sorry I wasn't a better friend."

"Clarissa, don't-" Nona started to beg, desperately returning the hug.

"No, I mean it!" Clarissa firmly told her, eyes screwing shut as she tried to cling onto her last, true friend. "I ignore you when I'm not up for talking, I pretend stuff is fine when it's not, I use you like a crutch-"

"Let me bear the weight!" Nona demanded, holding tight. "I want to help! I like you, not just 'cause of my stupid crush, Clarissa! I've been your friend since day one, because you _are_ a friend to me! And I never wanted to jeopardize that friendship, because I know you don't feel the same way about me! And you never will... and that- that's okay. You're my friend, to the end. And I'm the luckiest girl on the planet, 'cause I'm Clarissa's Best Friend."

Sniffling, Clarissa nodded, her cheek rubbing against Nona's beanie. "My partner in crime," she reminisced with a sniffle.

"But tell me how I got to kiss you?" Nona cheekily asked as they held each other.

Laughing, Clarissa changed the subject. "You need to show Alex how to-" She couldn't finish the jab. She already knew how things would end. "If she makes you happy. Treat her better than I treated you," she sniffled. Sending her best wishes to her last, true friend who had fallen for her worst enemy. Clarissa wanted to laugh. The irony wasn't lost on her.

Alex thought of three things to say but knew when to keep her mouth shut. She just let the two have their moment.

"Oh man..." Clarissa wanted to hang on forever, but she could feel the warmth, the pull getting stronger, the temperature getting hotter. "I don't- I'll see you around, Nona."

"I look forward to my monthly text," Nona chuckled, wiping her own tears into Clarissa's shirt.

"Shit," Clarissa groaned. She knew, deep down, she'd have to shape up. But her time was almost gone. "Alex!" she called out.

To that, Alex was ready.

Staring at the girl, Clarissa held onto Nona and told explained, "I think the key to all this is radios. That's what Anna-! Just... figure it out with radios. They don't like radios."

Alex held onto her radio tightly. "Right," she agreed, nodding along. "Thanks for the help."

"No. I'm not helping you, and I never will. I'm helping Nona, and you just so happen to benefit from that," Clarissa firmly told her. She had kept any and all venom out of her tone when she said it. Instead, she saved it all up for her parting words, "And if you ever hurt her, I'll finish killing you."

Neither Alex nor Nona got a chance a reply. Clarissa was gone, except everyone else disappeared from Clarissa's perspective. She went tumbling into the Shallows, drowning, gasping, going under. She tried to swim, tried to fight back, but she had given up her chance to run when she decided to make peace with Nona. Some things were more important than her own survival, but now she had to face the consequences for playing by her heart, not her head.

Years of noises flew by her. People, animals, machines, it all exploded into a rapid-fire symphony. The years melted together as Clarissa was pulled deeper and deeper under the current. Disoriented, she lost her struggle and ended up splashing out of the Shallows after what felt like an eternity.

She gasped for air as she hit the ground, hard and cold. Her hearing recovered first; she heard nothing but the groaning of load-bearing beams and the howl of the wind behind thick, concrete walls. She tried to move, but couldn't. As her vision came back, she saw damaged and abandoned equipment, a broken window, and a red light bulb above her.

"Fort Milner," she grunted. "What's the matter, don't like Site Eighty-Two?!" she called out. "You think you can corner me?! Trap me?! I'm not so-"

Clarissa was on her feet, though not of her own accord. The single, red light bulb in the room started to flicker. She tried to stop her own movements but could only watch as her finger pressed down on the comm button. "Clarissa is asleep right now," she spoke against her will. "Be still so as not to wake her."

She couldn't speak or move at that point. As soon as she heard Jonas and Alex talking downstairs, she went under again, drowning as the Sunken pulled her into a quieter pool. It was much faster this time, like she got through it all on a single breath.

Clarissa still had to reorient herself as the Sunken made sure no one was around to disturb her. Doors slammed, windows shut, lights went out. All except the one in the room where Anna had listened to the Sunken for the first time. A blood red glow lit the tiny radio room.

" **Alone... at last..."** they crackled out of the radio equipment, speakers buckling under the overwhelming static. " **Can't run... can't hide... we're not... done... with you."**

"You're not the first creep to want me alone," Clarissa growled as she tried to regain control over her motor functions. The warm blankets that had previously encased her were now molten steel, wrapped around her arms and legs. It almost felt like she was levitating. "Come out of the walls and fight me, or shut up and piss off!" she dared.

" **We want... what you... want,"** they reminded her, the light steady, bathing the room in a gentle, low red. " **Stop Alex... kill Alex..."**

"I wasn't born yesterday!" she yelled back. "You wanna use me? Possess me?! Screw off and find someone else!"

" **We have... tried... The scared... the foolish... the sor-row-ful... none suit... us... but you-"**

"I couldn't care less!" Clarissa told them again. "You can just sit in your radio and stay dead!"

" **No!"** they boomed, light flickering violently, static spilling out of the radio speakers. " **We were... robbed! Be-trayed! We want... what you... want! A full... life!"**

"Forget it! You'll have to kill me!" she screamed, unable to do more than wriggle her head.

" **...So be... it!"**

Clarissa went under again, for a much longer time. She would never get used to that drowning sensation, no matter how familiar it was to her; this time was even worse, because molten steel blankets wrapped around her and waterboarded her as she swam. Knocked around in the timestream, she reemerged in the fifties; the room was clean and tidy, with all kinds of spare supplies haphazardly stored in it. The radio equipment she had come to expect was not yet installed. Gasping for air, heaving and coughing, Clarissa still couldn't move on her own; she could only watch helplessly as "she" grabbed a bundle of rope off a table and hoisted it over her shoulder. Turning around, "she" took hold of an office chair and promptly went under again.

Dying for air, Clarissa came back to the dreary, rainy present day. "Stop!" she coughed, desperate to catch her breath.

" **Join... us!"** they boomed over the radio. " **Be hap-pier... with us."**

Wheezing, Clarissa could only shake her head.

Light strobing, the Sunken responded with an angry spray of static and went to work. It wasn't just a spray, it was almost like they were panting.

To her horror, Clarissa watched herself turn one end of the rope into a noose and toss it through the rafters. "Shit!" she barely managed to whisper. Redoubling her efforts, she fought back, trying to move. Failing again, she had to watch herself tie the spare end of the rope to the desk and position the office chair under the noose.

"Please!" she begged, stepping up onto the chair.

" **We will... have you! We only... need the... one!"** they explained with no remorse in their voice.

"No!" Clarissa screamed, tears pouring out. "No! No! No! Oh God, no!" she called out, her voice growing faint as she slipped the noose over her head. "God help me! No!" she shrieked, the tears splattering on the dusty, dirty floor below her. "Somebody! Anybody!"

" **Will you... join us?!"** they demanded for the last time.

No longer able to control her own breathing, Clarissa could do little more than scream for help as "she" tightened the noose, rope fibers scraping against her skin.

" **You... will... in time..."** they chuckled, static heaving as they caught their breath.

Clarissa helplessly watched as she kicked the chair out from under herself, and the rope went taut. A mangled, gagged gasp clawed its way out of her throat. Unable to kick, to move, to breath, she just hung there. Gently swinging like a pendulum on a grandfather clock. Clarissa swayed back and forth as her throat was crushed, and her life was slowly taken away.

Her panic eventually went full circle, and Clarissa found herself in a state of calm, apathetic pain. She knew she was dying, but she couldn't stop it. As her heart pounded away, she swayed back and forth. She was as quiet as a mouse. She would have loved a slideshow, a list of her accomplishments in life, a flashback sequence. She got none of it. Instead, she stared at the red wall with glazed eyes, slowly losing her life.

She didn't have time to think when it happened, but she felt it, she knew it when it happened. The warm, burning, molten blanket that held her captive unwrapped itself, like someone had turned off the power, believing the job to be done. Clarissa was left to hang freely, her limbs rigid but now free to dangle along with the rest of her.

She could feel her eyes popping out, her blood ready to spray like a faucet, the air completely cut off from her. But she was left to die free, because the Sunken couldn't be bothered to hold her for such a long, intensive amount of time and had let go of her, either out of confidence in her ability to die or out of necessity to rest. Either way, she was free, and she seized her chance without hesitation. Phasing through the rope, she fell; but she didn't hit the floor immediately. Before she even took a breath, she dived into the Shallows, desperately swimming far and fast. She swam as far away as she could. She heard the voices, she felt the presence of strangers and those familiar to her; but she kept swimming. That tingling warmth, that bedtime fatigue, it chased her almost as fast as she could swim. She pushed herself to the limit, her life depending on each stroke. She kept it up, even when she couldn't feel her body anymore; and after what felt like an eternity, she lost that warmth, surrounded instead by the frigid cold of the Shallows. She knew she had gained enough distance, and her body gave out. Eventually, she burst out of the Shallows, finally hitting the ground.

Clarissa was still in the radio room, only this time it was stripped bare; or perhaps, it was not yet finished. The walls were not yet erected, the electrical outlets laid bare for all to see. Clarissa huffed and heaved, resting her head on the cold, hard concrete, debris and cigarette ash grinding into her skin and hair. She breathed some of it in, but she couldn't be bothered to care. She was alive. Those Sunken bastards had lynched her, and she had evaded at the last moment. When she got home, she was going to put that shit on her resume.

"Ha! ...ha! Ha... Screw... all of you!" she gasped, too sore to make a theatrical spectacle of herself. She made do with curling her middle fingers outwards, though her arms still lay at her side, too pained to move. She felt like she had been dumped into a furnace and then soaked in liquid nitrogen. Even her chest hurt as she breathed in and out, but damn it all she loved being able to breathe.

After a few minutes of breathing, she rolled onto her back, groaning and cursing all the way. As her arms and legs splayed out, she stared up at the unfinished ceiling. Empty rafters held the bare minimum: one light bulb, haphazardly screwed into its socket. She stared intensely at that bulb, wishing herself away to the Adler estate. Only, she didn't. She tried again, and again after that. She lay where she did.

"Damn it," she whimpered, almost crying. "Damn ghosts lied to me," she spat to herself. Of course she never really had the power to transport to different locations; that would have been too convenient, because that's the one thing life will never ever be for Clarissa. "Damn it," she moaned again, cursing her rotten luck.

While she wasn't in a position to go sprinting as she'd done since it had all started, Clarissa prepared herself. She would sit up, stand up, and walk out of Fort Milner. Any second now. Yes, any second. She would get up, as if it were a school day.

"Okay, here we go," she grunted as she began to sit up.

The light above her flickered red. Briefly, so briefly that Clarissa almost wanted to tell herself that it hadn't flickered at all. If she hadn't been staring directly at it, she would certainly have missed it.

But she had seen it. Heart rate picking up, she knew she was out of time. Cursing, Clarissa dived back into the Shallows. Still sore and aching, she pushed herself. She swam as far as she could manage, that sensation of warmth slowly meandering behind her. It didn't take long for Clarissa to realize it, despite the chaos of the Shallows, the decades of voices and noises swirling all around her with such an intensity that she almost wasn't able to hear herself thing. Despite it all, she knew her own limits, and she knew the determination of her enemy. Her heart dropped into her gut. That warmth never fully went away. It was always behind her now, always chasing. And she couldn't keep swimming.

She was out of time, for good.

Clarissa dropped out of the Shallows, almost hitting her head on the window of the radio room. She would have killed just for a change of scenery. This time, she landed back in the present. It was dilapidated, the machinery was barely operation, as she had left it, and the rain outside was quietly coming to an end. Clarissa looked around. That warmth hadn't gone away, and it was slowly getting hotter.

Clarissa thought about running. She could probably get out of the fort, maybe into the woods, but she'd just die tired. Or worse. She thought about hiding, maybe in some dark corner or under the beds in that sleeping area downstairs. She'd just die afraid, heart racing as she wondered if they had found her. Or worse, of course, she wouldn't die. They'd take her, entomb her, pierce her, violate her. Would she even be aware? If the warm blanket had felt like slumber, and she was barely aware of what she was doing then, full possession would probably be a coma for her. What would they even use her body for, she wondered.

The light above her began to flicker red again.

"Fuck! You!" she cried out, summoning the last of her strength to stand up, though she had to grab onto the windowsill, her hand slipping as she collected rain water on her palm. "You want my ass?! Fuck off, you can't have it! It belongs to one man, and he's _fucking dead!_ " she told them bluntly as she raised her right hand at the bulb and flipped them off for the last time.

Clarissa turned around, facing the great outdoors. As she hoisted herself up, she almost fell back; the lack of energy hit her like a freight train, and she almost wanted to throw up. Stomach rumbling, she remembered she hadn't eaten in literally forever. Her whole body quaked and quivered as she stared down at the dirt surface of the long-abandoned garden area. Despite her fatigue, which threatened to overwhelm her, she grit her teeth as the warmth began to wrap around her, burning her skin. She took a much-deserved last breath. Thinking about it caused her stomach to flip, but she saw no better way forward. Throwing in the last of her strength, she prepared herself.

"Clarissa!" Jonas screamed behind her.

"Oh, thank god!" Alex groaned. "We saw- I saw-"

Smiling, Clarissa felt some sense of comfort in knowing she wouldn't be totally alone. "Alex. Don't worry," she assured the girl. She remembered the paranoia of Older Alex. At best, this was a symbolic gesture on her part. "There will be other ships. And other souls to sail them," she told her, confident but tired, so very tired.

As the warm blanket was about to grab her, Clarissa fell forward, wind rushing past her and bathing her in a refreshing, cold embrace.


	14. Chapter Fourteen: Operation Overlord

"Katie!"

Eyes wide, Clarissa called off her suicide and dived into the Shallows, pulling and twisting her muscles, tearing her body apart. It was like a Stuka dive bomber had dropped its payload, and she hit the ground along with it. Screaming in pain, she lay on the ground, unable to move. She had to laugh through the pain, though. It hurt like Hell, but she was alive. She screamed again as she rolled over, but she wasn't in control. Terror gripped her as she realized they had grabbed ahold of her.

Only this time, the warmth came from human hands. "Jesus, child!" Anna screamed at her as she held her still. "You scared me shitless!" she scolded her.

"Go!" Clarissa begged as she groaned. "They're coming!" Grabbing Anna by the wrist, she tried to push her away. "I can't- I'm too-! Go, Anna, get out of here!"

"Leave it to me, child," Anna soothed. Keeping both hands on Clarissa, she closed her eyes. "Oh, and you'll want to take a nice, long breath. Now hold it in."

Clarissa barely had time to comply as she felt herself go under, diving into the Shallows once more. She felt the currents flowing over her, decades of voices, noises, and radio waves collide with her as Anna pulled her through the river. Only this time, things changed; Clarissa felt herself start swimming upwards, outwards, as if she were leaping out of the Shallows, but the water traveled with her. It was almost like she was suddenly weightless, like she had jumped out of a waterfall and stayed in the air for just a split second, only that second lasted forever.

And then it didn't. Clarissa came crashing back into the waves that she had somehow never left. Shaken about, she could hold onto nothing. Anna somehow held onto her. After what felt like hours but were only minutes, Clarissa and Anna emerged from the Shallows.

Clarissa immediately collapsed to her hands and knees. She tried to steady herself, but she fell to her side. Arms and legs splaying out as she fell still, Clarissa stared up at the ceiling and took a deep breath. A smile grew across her face. It was her new home-away-from-home, the Adler Estate. She recognized the fresh, fuzzy smell that she only smelled here. Eyes straying, she further recognized the bookshelves, the small sofa upon which Anna and Maggie had celebrated their victory at Midway.

"You're safe," Anna assured her, hand caressing her forehead. "We left no trail, trust me."

"They can find me," Clarissa groaned, realizing she wasn't actually safe. Eyes screwing shut, she wished she had just finished killing herself.

"Not for years," Anna explained. "The water's murky. You're long gone. I dare say they'll have a bloody fine time searching for you alone in that newfangled future age you come from before they even consider the possibility that I was even there to-"

Clarissa couldn't keep it up anymore. She'd been going nonstop since the night had started. Despite her recent turnaround her own recovery at Kharkov, she still had no strength left, no reserves to thrust into the front line. She rolled her head back, propped on Anna's lap. The older lady possessed remarkably smooth, warm hands, one rubbing her shoulder and the other coaxing her heavy lids to fall closed.

Anna's word was enough for Clarissa, so she fell fast asleep.

Smirking, Anna was big enough to take it in stride. Clearly, the young girl had been pushed to her limit. Listening to the child snooze away in peace, Anna slowly set the girl's head down on the carpet, very gently.

Standing up, Anna dusted off her pants and strolled over to the linens closet. Mindful of the creaky door, she slowly gained access the the wares and found a heavy, wool blanket. "You nicked this from the bloody fort!" she gasped to the nonexistent Adler. Grunting to herself, she made a mental note to scold Maggie for her crime. She made her way back to the snoozing Katie and wrapped her up, nice and warm. Pausing, she examined the angle of the poor girl's neck. "You'd better not," she muttered as she snatched a pillow off the sofa and gently raised the child's head up, sliding the fluffy, blue pillow under it. Eying the girl's muddy boots, Anna knelt down and quickly took them off, placing them next to the coffee table and frowning at how shoes of the future were as uninspired as her own time. Alas, there was one more thing she needed to do. Going upstairs, she retrieved the girl's jacket and made sure to lay it on top of her for an extra layer; that way, she wouldn't miss it when she woke up. Satisfied with intimacy skills she hadn't used in years, Anna made her way to the kitchen, turning off the light as she went.

Checking the clock on the wall, she observed a nice, early six A.M. and budgeted her time. "Classes for now, lunch, a nap, classes again, and then dinner, I suppose," she hummed to herself as she quietly opened the ice box and procured a half-empty bottle of wine and a clean wine glass from the dusty cupboards. Satisfied with her collection, she quietly pulled a chair out from the dinner table, a dainty little circular table that could hold no more than four but currently held nothing more than a stack of books. It was made of cheap wood and coated in an ornamental table cloth; it was a layering of rings in red, white, and blue. Anna positioned herself to her liking: facing towards the ice box, the clock on the wall, and the window. She poured herself a full glass, sipped on half of it, and refilled it. Taking a deep breath, she planted her face into her hands, let the mistakes that had gotten her here pile up and crush her, then run her hands through her long, curly blonde hair. She repeated this process several times before coming to one final breath.

"We shall triumph," she told herself. "Now, young lady, it's time for you to continue with your lessons," she firmly lectured, her stomach warming up from the wine. Grabbing the book on the top of the pile, she found her book marker and picked up on the exciting chapter she had left off on: Hurricane Karai hits the West Coast, effectively erasing all human essence from Edwards Island. Though one executive from Lockheed-Martin spent a great deal of money maintaining the island in her lifetime, her grandchildren did not possess the same appreciation, and the island is left abandoned. The island was going to drown in the rising sea levels. This way, it was a quick death. "We should all hope for such a mercy when it's our time," she grunted to herself. She made many more remarks to herself, even after her lessons ended and she took up other tasks.

Clarissa kept her eyes closed, yawning as she awoke from her deep slumber. Taking a deep breath, she pulled her arms out from under her warm burrito and stretched. Something smelled amazing. Licking her lips, she wondered if she had the strength to get up as her stomach unleashed an avalanche of a gurgling gargle. Clarissa rolled onto her side, twisting up in the blanket, burrowing her head into her pillow. the hard floor reminded her that she was not in her bed. She took another deep breath, and her desire for food surpassed her desire for sleep. A rare event. Clarissa finally opened her eyes. "Hi," she grunted, seeing that her boots were off.

Yawning again, Clarissa sat up, stretching languidly as she popped her back, elbows, wrists, and neck. Snorting, she leaned over and grabbed her jacket. "I've missed you," she muttered as she tossed it to the sofa. She was completely on her feet in thirty seconds, taking her time and enjoying the smell of the impending feast. Seeing that her boots had been removed for her, she felt it would be best to not track mud around the house and keep them off.

"Hello?" she called out, not fully sure of her surroundings.

"In here, dear!" Anna cheerily called back, silverware clanging against dishware.

Smiling, Clarissa tossed the pillow and blanket haphazardly onto the sofa. She felt the heat of the house was enough for her, so she took off her jacket and left it with the blanket and pillow. Following the light out of her dark cave, she entered the kitchen and gazed upon the heavenly scene. Anna Shea had wrapped herself up in a white, stained apron and gone to town, possibly literally. A small pile of dishes had been collected in the sink, used to create that wonderful smell. Greasy, but teetering on sweet. It reminded her just how hungry she was. Swallowing hard, she stared a little longer at Anna than she should have. "Hi," she offered.

Smiling back, Anna gave a small bow, though she did so with care. She didn't want to drop the tray of newspaper in her hands. "Good morning, dear. Or rather, dare I say, 'Good night', haha!" she cheerily suggested, glancing back at the wall clock. "Yes! Almost ten on the dot! Come, sit! I am of the opinion that we are both in need of good dining and spirits tonight," she suggested, exhaling as her hours of laboring caught up to her.

Clarissa got a good look at the tray of newspaper as Anna sauntered by her. "Chicken wings?" she wondered as she sniffed again. She wasn't very confident; the smell wasn't right, but that was what they looked like.

"Not quite, dear," Anna corrected her as she placed the tray in the center of their small table. "Fried tempura! Fish and chips!"

Clarissa nodded along. "Smells good," she admitted. "Anything I can do to help?"

"Actually, dear," Anna told her solemnly, "we have a rule in the house. Work for your food. And since you slept through all the work, I'm afraid all of this is for me."

Clarissa stared at her.

Anna laughed at her. "Oh now, did I have you on there? For real?!" Taking off her apron and folding it up, she dropped it on the kitchen island and walked back to Katie. "I'm terribly sorry, dear! I dare say I was never good at joking!" she laughed, swaying back and forth as she gave Clarissa a hug.

Clarissa started to hug back, but the woman let go before she could. "No, but my oh my, you are starved aren't you, dear. Come, sit!" she beckoned, hand on Katie's back as she pulled out a chair for her. "Here, here, sit! And have a cigarette!" she offered as Clarissa scooted up. She placed a pack from the household carton in front of her. "I'm sure it's been a while since you had one!"

"Oh my God, thank you!" Clarissa called out as Anna disappeared behind her to rummage in the fridge. She nearly tore the package open, her withdrawal forgotten in the most recent fiasco. She broke two matches before getting that first sweet, stinging drag. Craning her head up, she blew the puff straight into the ceiling. "You're the best, Anna!" she thanked in between puffs. She had never been happier to slowly kill herself.

"Think nothing of it, dear!" she cheerily hummed, loudly rattling the ice box as she shut its door with her foot. "You'll be glad to know my time was spent on more than just this meal!" she told Katie as she placed a wine glass at her spot. "You do like wine, yes? I've read up on the future; I know you children still have wine."

Laughing, Clarissa nodded. She set her cigarette in the ashtray. "Um, yeah? We still have- oh, okay, thanks!" she quickly thanked as Anna topped off her glass.

"Think nothing of it, dear!" she assured her as she filled her own glass. Setting the bottle down next to the newspapers, she went back to the kitchen and brought up the rest of tonight's components: Two plates, each half full of homemade french fries and liberally glazed in a pool of white and brown sauces mixed together. Carrots and peas dotted the whole plate like sprinkles. Anna quickly set them down and went back for a bottle of malt vinegar, then one final time for two tall glasses of milk.

Clarissa couldn't think of anything clever or devastating to say. "Wow," was all she could mutter as Anna finally sat down, sitting directly on Clarissa's left.

Smiling, Anna made her hair bounce as she laughed. "Oh come now, surely you children of the future prepare proper meals every once in a while. It can't all be fast-food!" she theorized as she offered Clarissa a napkin.

Accepting, Clarissa put it in her lap. "No, it's mostly fast-food. How did you know?" she wondered as she reached for her wine glass.

"Not yet," Anna quickly told her, causing Clarissa to withdraw her hand. "And I told you, dear! I've been reading up! On quite a lot of subjects, as one might expect for a woman who has found herself with a lot of time on her hands. First thing I- well, it wasn't the first thing, but I wanted to make sure my favorite pub was still open. Camena really grows in the future!"

"Wait, we have a pub?" Clarissa wondered. "I've lived there my whole life. When did-?"

"It's 'The Loaf and Ale' on Sixth Street!" Anna revealed. "You see, dear, it's the only one. And it's not very good; their fish is always dry! But it's the one taste of home for me, so I cherish it greatly!"

"Oh. Cool?" Clarissa drawled out as she moved her left hand for a fork.

Anna immediately took Clarissa's hand into her own. "How gracious of you, dear!" she commented.

Clarissa was about to get vocal with her, but Anna dropped her head, placing her left hand in her lap. Anna cleared her throat. "God in Heaven, be our guest, and may this food be blessed. Amen!" she quickly and solemnly thanked.

"Amen," Clarissa quickly followed up. She was starting to get overwhelmed by so many new pieces of information, but at last it was dinner time.

"Katie, dear, lift up your plate," Anna instructed as she started scooping up fried fish with a pair of tongs.

"I'm not- oh, woah, that's enough," Clarissa had to tell her as Anna quickly dumped six servings of fish onto her plate.

"Oh, hardly! You'll want those to soak up in the tartar sauce!" Anna assured her as she served herself the same amount. "Let it soak, don't be fast on it either," she explained with a smile.

Clarissa did her best to stir them around in her plate, but there was already so much on it. And yet, she was ready to inhale it all. She had spent so much time in the Shallows that she had forgotten how food was actually very important.

"Now that they're soaking, I am of the opinion that a toast is in order!" Anna decided, setting her fork down on her plate and lifting her wine glass. "Join me, dear!"

Clarissa quickly followed suit. She loved the flare of the meal, but she was starting to miss Michael tossing her a bag of greasy burgers and onion rings.

Sighing in bliss, Anna stared at the young woman and gave it some thought. "To vigor, youth, and self-determination. To the fighting spirit, the will to live, and the pursuit of happiness."

"Amen to that!" Clarissa happily agreed, tinking her glass with Anna's. She helped herself rather liberally, but Anna took it all in one go. "Anna, that's a bit fast!"

"Don't worry, dear; it's not my first glass for the day. And I had a nap! I'm fine!" she assured her guest. "Besides, it's just us! Should I pass out, I'm sure I won't be able to embarrass anyone except myself, haha! You know, that's how I found Mags at The Loaf and Ale! What a bloody fine start to a first date," she chuckled more to herself than to her company.

Scoffing, Clarissa decided, "I guess there aren't many travelers in the Shallows."

"Oh no, dear, we're not in the Shallows. We're in nineteen-sixty-two, the real world!" she revealed, much to Clarissa's shock. Laughing, she assured the girl, "We are perfectly safe! I've had to do this many times. You and I swim in the Shallows with them, and it's quite a splash when you move about in it, which makes finding someone relatively easy. Now, try finding someone in a river of millions in just one corner! I dare say it'll take you a while, especially when that unique splashing pattern you require is hidden by the splashing of everyone else!"

Clarissa sat back. By this point, she was getting mad that she wasn't getting a chance to say anything. "You have had... a lot of wine today, haven't you."

Giggling, Anna nodded. "You would not believe the eternity I've had! Suffice to say, it has done wonders for me! I dare say I would have fallen to pieces without it!" she toasted, quickly downing her 'second' glass. "But you'll find that the flavor does not mix well with the meal. For that, we have milk!" she explained as she doused her fish in malt vinegar and rained down pepper from a tall shaker.

Nodding, Clarissa accepted the bottle and followed suit. Giving it a healthy sprinkling of vinegar and pepper, she began to cut up a piece of fish and stir it around in the sauce. It was adhesive enough to pick up some of the peas and carrots.

Anna stabbed at her peas and carrots first, forming miniature kebabs on the prongs of her fork, then she flipped the fork over and used the longer, convex side to hold a sizably larger piece of fish.

It blew Clarissa's mind; she had never thought about using a fork like that. Putting that revelation aside, she took her first bite, and her mind was blown again. Slowly chewing, savoring the rich and buttery texture, Clarissa felt the crackling of the fried batter explode in her mouth, that sprinkling of pepper being sewn into her tongue and giving the almost sweet fish a blast of spice. The fish itself was neither dry, nor was it sopping wet; and it quickly began to melt away in her mouth as she slowly chewed. The lemon juice lightly burned, letting off a tangy sting. This was countered by the light, fluffy mayonnaise; it was a sweet balancing agent. The peas were crunchy, and the carrots were sweet and chewy, mixing with the flavor of the fish. "Oh my God," she muttered in disbelief.

Smirking, Anna held off on popping in her first bite and asked, "Dare I wonder, would it be to your liking?"

Taking a deep breath, Clarissa rapidly nodded. She was ready to have it as a last meal. "My last meal was a sandwich. I... this is... It's art," she had to compliment. "No one's ever cooked for me like this. Not that you did it just for me, that is," she explained. "I love it, Anna."

Smirk growing into a full smile, Anna took it in. "I'm glad you think so highly of it," she thanked before taking her own first bite. Letting it all roll around in her mouth, she gave it some thought.

Clarissa quickly took a second bite, using a chip -a classic french fry- to scoop more fish onto her fork's longer, convex side. She was hardly one to follow a trend, but she would happily copy off a correct homework solution if her own was wrong. Her second bite was just as good as the first one; she was happy that Anna hadn't made too much, because she could have just opened her mouth and inhaled it all, even if she wasn't starving. The chip itself was different; she was used to over salted, crispy fries from fast food joints. She ate a few more on their own. They were lightly seasoned and not super crispy. It was different, but she liked it.

Humming, Anna swallowed and started carving up more of her fish, not nearly as hungry as Clarissa. She took her time and considered, "Maybe I should have used more pepper. I feel it needs more punch."

Half done with her own mouthful, Clarissa asked, "Got any onion?"

Snapping her fingers, Anna almost leapt up. "My word, child! That's a rather astute recommendation! Let us see what we can see," she decided as she rushed to the fridge.

"Need any help?" Clarissa called back, mouth full on her next bite, her head nearly buried as she dug into her plate.

Chuckling to herself, Anna could clearly see that Katie had no intention of leaving her plate. "Think nothing of it, dear," she answered as she hurriedly diced up a red onion.

Nodding, Clarissa kept chowing down. "I prefer long strips, like cheese," she told Anna. "Would you mind saving some like that for me?"

Mindful of her fingers, Anna kept chopping, but she couldn't help but see Maggie at the table instead. Christmas and Boxing Day, New Year's Eve, Easter, and Thanksgiving. Anna hadn't gone all-out for anyone in what felt like an eternity. What she had lost could never be replaced, but it was nice to feel wanted again. "I'd love to," she quietly remarked. Tears slowly flowed, but that was just how life had worked out for her.

They found the onion to be a delightful addition to their plates, though Anna was rather surprised to see anyone eat raw onion in such large quantities. Credit needed to be given where it was due, however. Anna lacked the appetite of a young woman like Katie, who not only ate the majority of the onion, but she also inhaled the rest of the fish, with Anna barely managing ten pieces and Katie shoveling fifteen into her gut. Katie, unlike the children of Anna's time, had nothing against her vegetables either and happily ate the rest of those, too. The fries were no challenge either; she made even faster work of those.

Upon finishing their meal, Anna offered more wine to her guest, who was in too high a spirit to refuse. They toasted a few more times, and Anna insisted that they leave the dishes for later, to which Clarissa more than happily agreed. Anna retired them to the couch outside, insisting that Katie sit still while Anna get back into the kitchen to put on the tea. Clarissa hated tea, but she wasn't going to turn the woman down. Anna was back in two minutes.

"I dare say, it's been ages since I entertained guests," Anna remarked as she returned. "Usually, I would make something that Mags and I could eat off of for the whole week. Cottage pie, bangers and mash, or a good roast for sandwiches. Mags would make flapjacks, if she fancied herself a chef," she elaborated as she plopped down next to Clarissa, who was comfy enough to sink into the sofa and offered a pack of cigarettes to her guest. "But this was good. I dare say I was getting rusty!" she laughed as she wrapped her lips around one for herself and struck a match.

Smirking, Clarissa accepted one and asked, "How often did she 'fancy' herself a chef?" She put the cigarette in her mouth and leaned in to accept the flame from Anna's match.

Puffing smoke, Anna shook her head and ran her hand through her ruffled, curly blonde hair. "My dear, never in my life had I ever met anyone so adverse to womanly duties. I dare say the men on base were more inclined to cook, but Mags? My word, she lived off of cafeteria cardboard and my own culinary concoctions. It is nothing short of a miracle she survived before I moved in with her!"

Laughing, Clarissa blew smoke as she felt that initial awkwardness of their arms mashing together fade away. Filled up on good food and tasty spirits, she leaned in. "Yeah, she's a real pioneer. Nobody likes cooking in the future."

Grunting, Anna reluctantly nodded. "I was rather reluctant to believe what I've been reading. The future has grown so bright, yet so very dim!"

Sighing, Clarissa nodded. "Yeah, I don't think I'll ever own a big house like you two did."

Anna turned to her right and looked the girl in the eye, pouting. "I'm afraid not this house, dear. I won't give anything away, but it would behoove you to avoid investing in this island. For that matter, Mags and I only received the opportunity when the war broke out."

Turning to her left, Clarissa cocked her head and asked, "How'd happen?"

"Pearl Harbor, dear!" Anna reminded her with a laugh. "Oh, your history books barley mention the internment camps for the Japs, but my word! Not one comment on the housing panic! I dare say, I couldn't go a day without ads in the papers for the rest of December! Everyone who fancied themselves within striking range made their best efforts to liquidate all assets!"

"Huh..." Clarissa trailed off. "No, I can't say I knew that. You and Mags bought this house on the cheap?"

"The dirt was more expensive," Anna laughed. "It was the bargain of a lifetime. We had this wonderful estate fully owned by forty-three."

Sighing, Clarissa stared off into space. "What a bargain," she whined.

"Fear not, dear," Anna assured her with some nudging. "We managed this before her father died and left his riches to her. I'm sure you'll manage, and I just know a beautiful and smart lady such as yourself will be in a luxurious position to share it with someone special. Tell me, have you found a red-haired boy to accompany you in life?"

Frowning, Clarissa nodded. "Yeah... I found him... Michael. He drowned in Horn Lake a while back. It was so stupid. He was going to teach his sister how to swim, but he had to keep her from- so he-" Frustration, anger, and sadness vied for power over her. Eventually, depression won out. "It was stupid. A great man died so a stupid, pathetic twerp could live on and hurt everyone around her."

Scrunching her lips, Anna took a sharp breath. "Bloody Hell, I do apologize," she offered sincerely. She rarely stepped on social mines like that, and it always made her flinch inside.

Scoffing, Clarissa reasoned, "You went to radio school, not minesweeping school. It's fine. I just... saw a lot of us in what you and Mags have, had, did have-" Groaning, she lightly slapped her cheek with her right hand and pulled it down the side of her face. "Shit, I don't know. Time travel is confusing."

Nodding, Anna agreed, "You are quite right, dear. But, I learned to wield the instruments it has provided."

"Yeah," Clarissa suddenly remembered. Looking to Anna, she asked, "How did you find me? You were busy doing your own thing and everything. You left me on my own, which -by the way- screw you."

Chuckling, Anna countered, "And yet, my plans bore fruit! Surprising, it's as if I know what I'm doing, dear. Why, I do believe I have some stripes sewn onto my uniform. Could it be that I-"

"No, no, no!" Clarissa laughed. Shaking her finger at the older woman she demanded, "You found me when I wasn't even calling out for you. How'd you do it?"

Shrugging, Anna told her, "I have spent a bit of an eternity in the Shallows, dear. At this point, I'd say it's like trying to remember how I learned to walk; but I can tell you that I heard your cries. You were splashing around, making such large waves. Of course, you were dying; it only makes sense that you would make such a ruckus. It was gagged, strangled even, but I heard you. I swam to the right year and the right place and got your attention just in time, not a moment to spare!"

They sat in silence for a little while. Smiling, Anna gave her time.

"So, thank you," Clarissa assured her. Brow furrowing, she asked, "But how did you learn? To physically travel. The ghosts promised to teach me, but they didn't. They just tricked me and tried to kill me."

Anna pondered that for a moment. "What did you hope to gain by being their student? What did they seek from you?"

Clarissa took a lot of moments to ponder that. "Um... I... was angry, and they... promised me that I wouldn't feel it anymore if I did what they wanted. Turns out, they just need my body to possess."

Swallowing hard, Anna asked, "How do they possess you? How did you break free?"

Huffing, Clarissa began to squirm, just a bit. She tried to hide it. "Look, I got away. It was tense. They made me hang myself, and I couldn't keep going, so I thought I'd just jump and go out on my own terms. Can we just not talk about it anymore?" she curtly requested, staring Anna right in the eye. "I don't know if you've ever dealt with suicidal people, but this was... just really bad, okay?"

Anna backed off, offering a sympathetic smile. "I'm sorry you had to go through that. But I have, most certainly. After I disappeared, Mags was not well."

Eyes widening, Clarissa remembered that that had been a thing. "Shit. But she didn't kill herself. She couldn't have," Clarissa slowly mumbled. It was like an easy question in class, where she knew the answer, but just didn't want to be wrong.

Scrunching her lips, Anna nodded, turning away and staring at the dusty television set. Taking a deep breath, she assured Clarissa, "Yes, but she made several attempts. I was... unable to communicate with her. Despite my best efforts. It took me ages within that eternity to learn to let down my mental barriers and start picking up objects."

Clarissa let the weight of her choice bear down on her like a freight train. It took a very deliberate nudge to pull her back to reality.

"It worked out," Anna assured her. "She suffered, and I suffered, and I had hoped to grow old with her; but it worked out. She managed to pick up the pieces and move on." Smiling, she summarized, "She went on to do great things, my dear."

Eying her, Clarissa prodded, "And you were building your radio thing this whole time?"

"Uuum, not all the time," Anna solemnly admitted. "I should have focused on my work. You were running, buying me time. But she was in such pain, and I couldn't bear to leave her."

Glaring, Clarissa just huffed. "Yeah. I get it," she grumbled, looking away. "It was just my life that was on the line, nothing too serious."

"I'm sorry," Anna told her, placing a hand on her knee. "I truly am. I was overwhelmed and distracted, but I should have thought of you more than fluttering about Mags."

Clarissa thought of her own family. "I'd want to follow my parents around, even if I couldn't do anything," she empathized. As wonderful as it was to feel miserable about poor treatment, Clarissa swallowed it and asked, "What did Maggie do? How far have you gone into the future?"

Smiling, Anna told her, "We're in nineteen sixty-two. Remember, the real world is able to hide us infinitely better than the Shallows. Right now, as we sit here, Mags has gone to Boswell Bay in Alaska to work on the troposcatter project."

Raising an eyebrow, Clarissa looked back to her and asked, "Let me guess, it's a new radio thing?"

Smiling, Anna gave a soft laugh. "You're a quick learner, dear! Yes, and it's a great leap forward for us. It saves many lives in Vietnam, but we shall not be getting entangled in that just yet."

"Oh, you know about that too?" Clarissa realized. "Yeah, it's messy. But if it makes you or Mags feel better, the Soviets go through the same thing in Afghanistan."

Chuckling, Anna shook her head. "Oh, Mags loses her bloodlust rather quickly after my 'death' in fifty-one..." Anna lowered her eyes, giving it some thought. "Heh. I must admit, I expected to see my own death like in ' _Tom Sawyer'_. This is far more depressing."

Swallowing hard, Clarissa ignored the fact that she had never paid attention to that book and asked, "Did Mags ever recover?"

"The woman is far more reserved these days. Quiet, most of the time. She really did change," Anna acknowledged. "I have watched her interact with many people, both before and after my death. She uses her pauses and the lulls in conversations to consider her replies rather carefully. Even her letters are written differently; it would be amusing to me, if it were not so terribly saddening." Sighing, Anna slowly hung her head. "She truly is a changed woman. Some for the better, and some for the worse. But my death gave her new purpose, a new goal."

Clarissa stared at her, not fully confident that her choice of words were just coincidence. "So... you're okay with letting her go on alone?"

Nodding, Anna revealed, "She was utterly devastated by her order, and rightly so, of course. It wasn't intended to kill American lives, but she was after Japanese blood. That much was deliberate. You see, dear, she and I had made plans to retire after the war, together." She paused, taking a much-needed drag of her cigarette. Blowing a cloud of smoke into the air, she elaborated, "We were going to live our lives without the burden of our careers forcing us apart, but when she spilled blood that changed. I never managed to ask directly, but I am of the opinion she was going to stay in the army until she got too old. The woman simply lost all sense of direction in life. Killing is a rather heavy burden to bear, and I now know that she never forgave herself. My own death just made it worse, but then something wonderful happened after she mourned my absence! She regained that direction! She decided that she would dedicate herself to her country."

Clarissa had to wonder, "And now she's away in Alaska?"

Nodding, Anna told her, "She's helping to advance radio technology, my dear. It gives our soldiers a greater chance of survival in the heat of combat. Without my death, she never would have regained such a motivation, such a drive to advance herself! It's not without pain, of course. But I am of the opinion that she will go on. Her duty to her country will make good on the blood she spilled that night."

Clarissa had to take it all in. After a few moments, she decided, "You're a strong woman, Anna. Not everyone... would make such a selfless sacrifice."

Smiling, Anna slightly corrected, "I didn't exactly have a choice in the matter, dear. But I suppose I'm happy enough with how things turn out for her. I must be, I'm willing to stay dead, haha!"

The kettle in the kitchen began to whistle. Anna hopped up. "Wonderful!" she nearly hooted. "My dear, if you loved my cooking, you will most assuredly enjoy my tea!" she bragged to Katie as she hurried into the kitchen, taking the kettle off the burner, its whistling quickly dying down. "Steeping long enough," she grunted to herself as she grabbed a strainer and some cups.

Eyes wide, Clarissa watched her bring out a tray with a fancy teapot with blue and pink flowers painted all over its belly. Matching cups accompanied it. As Anna set the tray down on the coffee table, Clarissa saw that lemon slices and sugar cubes were available for serving as well.

"Wow, Anna," Clarissa whistled. "You know how to show a girl a good time," she quipped with a smirk.

Laughing, Anna poured a dark red liquid out of the pot, into their cups. "How remarkable too, that I managed to perfect such fine arts of courtship in complete secrecy!" she decided as the tea reached a safe level towards the top of their cups. "Now, I love lemon in the drink, but I like to put the sugar in my mouth and let it dissolve as I drink," she explained to Katie as she sat back down and prepared her cup accordingly.

"Well, you haven't steered me wrong yet," Clarissa decided as she placed a lemon slice in her own cup and popped a sugar cube into her cheek. She offered her cup to Anna, who looked at it blankly for a second.

"Oh!" she realized, tapping the cup with her own in a toast. "To vigor and youth!" she offered with a smile.

Clarissa toasted back. "And to a working radio!" she exclaimed before taking a long sip of her tea. It was strong like coffee, but sweetened by her sugar cube, with a hint of zest in the lemon. And yet, it still had that tea taste to it. At the end of the day, no matter how tasty the leaf was, Clarissa just did not care for leaf juice. "I love it!" she quickly told Anna.

"Life simply is not complete without it," Anna agreed as she took a hearty sip. Sighing deeply, she finally reclined, sinking into the cushions of the sofa. Eyes closed, she breathed easily, letting the warmth trickle down into her gut, mixing with the copious amounts of wine.

They enjoyed their peace and quiet, and the tea that Anna had so lovingly made. The minutes ticked by, though Anna was far more at peace than Clarissa was.

Clarissa felt that drinking two cups was polite enough. Setting her cup down, she asked, "So, what's the plan?"

"Hmm? Oh, the ghosts," Anna remembered as she finished off her fourth cup. "They have great difficulty finding you in the real world. At least, they have been largely unsuccessful in locating me. Didn't I already explain this?"

Shaking her head, Clarissa agreed, "Yes, you did, but I meant the plan to kill them."

"Ah, that might not be possible," she suggested as she put her cup down on the coffee table and reclined into the sofa. "They're already dead, by our own conventions. I doubt they can simply cease to be at this point; but I am of the opinion that we can trap them in their own pocket dimension, give them their own small puddle to splash about in for all eternity. A cruel fate, but they clearly cannot be allowed to possess you or anyone else and escape."

"Okay, but your radio just opened up their dimensional rift thing. How will it close it?" Clarissa wondered, craning her neck to get the crick out of it.

Chuckling, Anna told her, "I have a few ideas. It's the waves, dear. I think it's the waves. Tune in just right, and you open it. I know we can close it. I almost did it on accident when we opened it, before I managed to find a stable frequency to keep the gate open."

"And how will we keep them from tying us down? They can do that. They forced me to do things I wasn't able to control," Clarissa reminded her ash she brought a hand up to her throat to massage it. A shiver went down her spine, but she was certainly grateful to still feel anything at all.

Smirking, Anna assured her, "They're searching for you. There are a lot of years to cover, and a lot of new locations for them to examine. It will take time, and that would appear to be the one commodity they possess in abundance. We simply need to strike in a time they are not occupying. As it stands, I can't find any trace of them in the sixties."

"So, what, you wanna just waltz down there in the morning?" Clarissa hesitantly wondered, her heart rattling like a faulty engine. "And why do you keep saying, 'We'? I don't need to go with you. We're in the real world! Just drop me off in my time, and you go finish it! You started it!"

Anna put her hand over Clarissa's. "I know it's scary, dear. But they'll smell you as soon as we dive back into the Shallows. I am of the opinion that we will not have much time to dally once I start to close the tear. I tried before, and the cave started falling down, remember? When we spring into action, we both need to be ready to swim away at a moment's notice."

Groaning, Clarissa pulled her hand away from Anna. "I'm scared," she nearly whispered. "You left me alone! I should- it's only fair!"

Chuckling, Anna gave the young woman her space. Nodding, she suggested, "Perhaps you could leave me all by my lonesome at a different point in time? Come now, it won't be so bad. Would you prefer to relax tomorrow? I severely doubt we need to attack now, or in the next twelve hours, dear. I've gone years without them detecting me."

Clarissa gave it some thought. And then some more, so much so that Anna took the tray away and briefly cleaned up the dishes in the sink. When Anna returned, she found the young woman standing by the doorway, staring out the window.

"The bed is yours," Anna quietly told her, standing a few feet away. "I'll show you. The device is up there with it. I want to teach you how-"

Clarissa turned around. "What? No! No... No, I can't do that. It's your-"

"My dear, there is only one bed. We only ever planned for one," Anna told her with a chuckle. "And I may be of a different time, but my gut told me you had an orthodox appreciation for the opposite sex, long before you ever told me of this man you fell in love with."

Frowning, Clarissa thought very fondly of him. "Yeah. Sorry. I wouldn't get any sleep if we shared the bed."

Smiling, Anna gave a small bow. "Think nothing of it, dear."

"Hey!" Clarissa realized, snapping her fingers. "You have-! That's a dangling preposition!"

Cocking her head, an amused smile grew across Anna's face. "I'm sorry? What?"

Laughing, Clarissa sauntered so quickly, she nearly ran, over to the kitchen doorway. "In there! When I first ran into you two! Mags heard me rattling around, but I was in the Shallows at the time. She was all pissed, and she said something, and you told her to shoot at her dangling preposition!"

It was Anna's turn to laugh. "Ah! I remember! Yes, I suppose that does make me a hypocrite!"

"Ahaha! If only she could see you now!" Clarissa laughed triumphantly, dramatically pointing at Anna.

The two managed to share a laugh over the matter. And then the laugh got harder, throatier. It wasn't long before Anna was crying.

Wiping her tears, Anna tried to regain her composure. "Bloody Hell, I miss her." Snorting hard, she wiped her wet fingers on her sleeve. "I'm happy for her, but I do miss her. She was my whole life, you know."

Clarissa hated feeling awkward, but she wasn't going to leave the woman to cry alone. "Come here," she offered, opening her arms.

Anna accepted. It was a slow, swaying hug, just the kind of comfort she needed. Her breathing stuttered, but she managed to get a good, steady breath in. "It's a terrible burden. I was hoping to pinpoint the exact moment where she retired from life. I wanted... I wanted to save her, not pull her in with me. Now, I'm not sure if these abilities will remain with us. They come from the Sunken; I suspect they shall return with them when it's over."

"You're too selfless," Clarissa had to acknowledge as she held her tight. "I've always wished I could-"

The rocking stopped. Clarissa's arms locked up.

"You're hurting me," Anna hissed, flinching at the sudden tightness.

"Oh my God," Clarissa muttered. As Anna struggled, she finally let go of her. Clarissa staggered back. "Oh my God. Oh my God! Oh my God!" she repeated, again and again until she was screaming it, hands clawing at her face. She hurriedly threw on her jacket and zipped up her boots. Running past Anna, she phased through the door.

But she didn't. She slammed into it, head first. As she toppled to the ground, Anna took it upon herself to help the child back up.

"Bloody Hell! Tell me what's the matter, dear!" Anna begged, grabbing her by the shoulders, dread spreading across her face.

Clarissa could hardly control her breathing. She carefully considered her options and the outcomes. The last time she dashed head-long into a similar situation was in 1943, and that didn't end well. Staring at Anna, she asked, "When we dive into the Shallows again, how long will it take for them to hone in on us?"

"I don't-! Most likely a fair amount of time? Fifteen minutes? Thirty at most if they're far enough away, perhaps? I just don't know, child!" she tried to explain, confusion and exasperation sharpening her tone. "What has gotten into you?"

Nodding, Clarissa thought about it. She was experienced enough. A few minutes would be more than enough. It could get messy, but if she was going to lose her powers after they won then she had to act now. "Grab your gear," Clarissa told her.

"Now?!" Anna asked, almost bewildered at the girl's sudden eagerness.

Clarissa bolted past her. "We'll stop them tonight, but I gotta grab someone first!" she yelled back as she opened the door and raced into the night. "Meet me in the cave!"


	15. Chapter Fifteen: Operation Bagration

Anna raced down the beaten path, almost tripping as she made her way to the bunker entrance, her backpack bouncing, precious radio equipment rattling. With a full moon, things were bright enough for her to see as she approached the bunker, its yellow light a shining beacon; but going uphill reminded her that she was no longer the young woman she had once been. Taking a few deep breaths, she leaned against the vault door and accepted the fact she was a bit out of shape. Luckily, the rest of the trip was down. She climbed down the ladder and heaved at the damp concrete, its terrible stench filling her lungs. Reaching the bottom, she had to check her map of the network before confirming where she needed to go. She was a bit annoyed that the flashlight she had brought was half dead, but she couldn't be mad at Maggie for not replacing the batteries before she flew away to Alaska. As she passed the dreary sleeping quarters and kitchen, she imagined herself having to survive down here after the radiation swam over the island. She was grateful that the Cold War would be over.

"Now, if you future idiots would just stop heating up the planet," she grumbled to herself as she got to the door that led to the cave. The athletic adventure had been taxing on her, but the look on the Katie's face made it all worthwhile.

Clarissa was standing roughly where Anna had found her, where the rocks had come crashing down all around them. With a few minutes to herself, she caught her breath and thought about how many others had died in this cave, or worse. She had a pretty good idea of what Alex, Jonas, and Reginald were doing in here on that night. She'd heard the rumors in school, those crazy voices you could hear through the radios when you found the right spot on the cursed island. She knew Jonas had no idea why this cave was revered, but she couldn't figure out why Alex let them go inside at all.

"Hello there!" Anna shouted, greatly annoyed as she jumped down from a sloping rock and landed with a splash, cave water flying out of its tiny pool.

Clarissa screamed, leaping as she saw Anna appear to her right. "Jesus! Where'd you-?! How?!"

Huffing, Anna told her, "Nuclear bunker. It runs under the whole island. You're going to-"

Clarissa had to risk her neck in an obscenely inconvenient obstacle course. "That's not fair," she grumbled. "Okay, but you're here now. And I see you have your fancy radio set."

Anna stalked up to her. "Yes, and I want an bloody explanation, young lady!" she told her, mindful of her step. Her shoes were now filled with water, and it was just adding more straw to the camel's back. That back was already weighed down by thirty pounds of radio equipment.

Clarissa nodded. "I'll show you," she told her as she took Anna's hand into her own. "Hang on," she suggested with a grin. It felt good to be the one to pull someone else along for the ride, for once.

Eyes going wide, Anna shouted a warning, petrified. They were in the Shallows before she could stop the reckless child.

The countdown had begun, and there was no going back now.

Clarissa swam around for a bit, towing the angry woman behind her. But she wasn't going to let that stop her. It took her some time to find Anna, or even Maggie; Clarissa chalked it up to not knowing them that well. But it took Clarissa no time at all to swim to Michael.

"Here!" she realized with dread and satisfaction, landing them right where she needed to be. The years had flowed by much more easily. The amount of people who ventured into the cave was far fewer than the beach, or other parts of the island. The number of voices, the amount of sounds, it was all much easier to swim through. It took far less time to find Michael's own voice, for which Clarissa was grateful. She knew every second counted.

"You bloody fool!" Anna shrieked as she came to a halt alongside Clarissa. "Think about what you're doing, child!" she shouted. "They'll find us! I'm not ready!"

"I know exactly what I'm doing!" Clarissa told her as she looked around anxiously. Michael wasn't here. Alex wasn't here. "Here in this place, I can change things! I can stop Michael from dying!" Clarissa revealed to Anna. She knew beyond a shadow of a doubt this had to be the right time.

"Here?! Cave Lake?!" Anna wondered, her confusion growing. "You said he drowned in Horn Lake! I don't even-"

"It's here!" Clarissa told her, pointing to the large body of water in the cave. "This is Horn Lake! If you swim through the cave, it bends around like a French horn," she explained, annoyed that the woman clearly didn't see the shape the water made.

Anna didn't really have time to wonder when the name was changed, but it was just too confusing to not address. All the real problems came flooding back to her. "Bloody Hell, we do not have time to dally like this, child. They'll be coming for us!"

"No! I won't leave him! This won't take long, I promise!" Shaking her head in anger, Clarissa began to wonder if the Sunken had tricked her into coming here with Michael's 'signature' or something. At last though, she finally saw him, the man of her dreams. He creeped over the edge of the small cliff overlooking the cave and began to climb down. "Oh my God," she whispered, clasping her hands against her face. It had been an eternity since she'd seen him. She had to fight back the tears. It was so good just to see him one more time.

"Michael!" Alex shouted as she emerged at the top of the cliffside. "Catch!" she warned as she tossed a beach bag down to him.

He caught it, effortlessly. "Hey, at least buy me dinner before you dump your baggage on me!" he laughed as he checked inside the bag and moved towards Clarissa and Anna.

"I don't have to! I'm not your smooshy, gooshy girlfriend!" Alex quipped back, to which Michael had a guilty chuckle. "And if you teach me to swim in one go, I'll promise to never tell her you laughed at that!"

Michael played it off as he phased through Clarissa and moved to the edge of the water. "I guess I have to make sure you know how to swim, then!"

Clarissa was starstruck, but Anna was suddenly concerned.

The clock was ticking, but if she let the girl have her way, things could get a lot worse. "Think about what you're doing," she warned again, watching him set up their beach towels and bags of snacks.

Michael and Alex found their accommodations to be satisfactory. They shed their clothes and sweatpants, leaving just their swimsuits. Michael had his American flag swim trunks, and Alex wore a mismatched two piece: A black bottom and an orange top.

Clarissa was already mad at Alex, who climbed down and joined her brother with such gleeful innocence. Taking a deep breath, Clarissa followed Michael as close as she could. She wanted to reach out now, but she already knew the perfect moment to strike. Now, more than ever, Clarissa was confident. "Anna, I know exactly what I'm doing."

Clarissa followed Michael up a small stairwell previous classes had chipped out, creating holdings for hands and feet in the side of the wall. If one kept a firm grip, they could climb up the jagged wall to a small, gently sloped diving board that jutted out of the wall, a hidden diving board that overlooked the lake. Alex and Anna towed the line. All four came to the top, about eight feet above the lake. The flatness only extended back by a yard or so. The width of their platform wasn't much better, measuring at about eight feet wide. With her superior height, Anna found herself a bit squeezed. Though roughly the same height as Anna, Clarissa had spent many summers growing up in this cave with the other kids.

Breathing harder and harder as her heart began to race, Clarissa pointed at Alex and reminded Anna, "This one can't swim. She ends up drowning Michael."

"You said he saves her life," Anna reminded her. "You can't decide who lives and who di-"

Michael clapped his hands together. "Okay. Welcome to Swimming One-Oh-One. I'm your instructor, Mister Cap Size! Step forward, my pupil!"

Clarissa and Alex shared a laugh, something Clarissa immediately hated. "I can save him," she said, more to herself than to Anna. "The moment one of them jumps in... I can-"

As Alex stepped forward, Michael put his arm around her. "This is a time-honored tradition, passed down from generation to generation, sis! You see, the first step to learning how to swim, is to get a helping hand!" he explained as he promptly used his hand to push Alex over the edge with a laugh.

Alex shrieked and spun, trying to grab onto Michael. As she toppled, she hit her head on the ledge and fell into the water with a splash.

"Shit!" Michael gasped as he peered over the edge, slamming his hands against his head. "Alex! Come on, are you okay?!"

Clarissa stopped breathing. She had not expected it to play out like this. Michael had never done anything like that with her. She didn't want it to be him who had caused this to happen.

After a few moments, Alex emerged, splashing and flailing. She gasped and heaved as she tried to cough up water. She just kept taking more in.

"Alex! Swim for the shallows!" Michael shouted out from above. "Aw shit! Shit! Shit!" he groaned as he saw the blood pooling around Alex. She either couldn't hear him or didn't know where to go.

Anna threw her hands over her mouth. "Oh my God!" she gasped, eyes widening.

Clarissa held her hand out. "It's fine!" she justified. She stood just a few short steps behind Michael. Time seemed to slow down for her, an eternity of waiting finally over. "I can reach him," she reminded herself.

Alex had lost all sense of direction by now. Her flailing got quieter and quieter, and less and less of her managed to stay above water.

"Katie..." Anna put her hand on the girl's shoulder. "Michael gave his life so that Alex could live. If you take him out of this moment, you leave her to die."

"I'm-! Good! She-! I know! She deserves it!" Clarissa tried to justify. "You don't understand what you're asking me to do!" she yelled back at Anna, the pain pushing tears out of her eyes.

"Alex?!" Michael cried out again, nearly ripping his hair out in panic. "God damn it!"

"Yes, I do. We both do," Anna told her, putting her other hand on the young woman's shoulders. "You know I can't save Maggie," she acknowledged, differentiating between possibility and responsibility, though the burden of that responsibility crushed her soul. "...And you know you can't save Michael."

Michael shouted, "Hang on, Alex!" and backed up a few steps. "I'll save you!"

Anna told her, "I'm asking you to let him go."

Clarissa wavered. Her hand was so close to Michael. All she had to do was take a half step forward. It shouldn't have even been an issue for her; she had fantasized about this for ages. He had lived a good life, had helped others, had been a perfect student. It was Michael who had pushed Clarissa out of apathy and into track and field. It had been Michael who had encouraged her to give history a try and had gotten her to enjoy it. Michael had done everything right, even in his death. He deserved saving, not Alex. But he had pushed her.

"He doesn't deserve this," Clarissa whimpered, the tears flowing freely. "It was an accident," she squeaked out as her hand fell to her side.

"God help me," Michael begged before he took a deep breath. "I'm so sorry." He ran forward and dived.

Clarissa fell to her knees. Curling up into a ball, she dared not peek over the edge. Alex's gasping and splashing were too much already. She nearly tore her vocal cords apart, screaming.

It was enough for Anna, and she could see that it was far too much for the woman who lay before her. She took charge and grabbed her, pulling them both into the Shallows. Anna weighed her options, trying to find a time and year they could hide out in, just to catch their breath. She didn't have long to decide.

The warmth was far away at first. They both felt it. Before Anna could dive out of the Shallows, it was upon them, wrapping around them and heating up, incapacitating them, drowning them. They were pulled under the current, their screaming drowned out entirely.


	16. Chapter Sixteen Operation Jassy-Kishinev

**Operation Jassy-Kishinev**

They swirled, like they were caught in a whirlpool. Sounds and voices flew past Clarissa's ears, some familiar, some foreign, all garbled and drowned out. She couldn't breathe. She couldn't see. Everything was a whirlpool of color, static, and foggy sounds. It went on and on for what felt like an hour, but could only have been just a few seconds, ten at most. The worst part was that she was all alone. In the chaos of the moment, Anna had let go of her. It all came to an end when Clarissa came crashing down to a sandy floor. She lay perfectly still for a few moments, uncertain if she was actually alive. She jolted when she heard another thud. Looking up, Clarissa saw that Anna had landed on her stomach, her precious backpack still strapped to her person. Clarissa quickly sat up, and then she realized that she wasn't breathing air. She technically was, but she and Anna were far below the ocean's surface.

Anna was faster at reacting and got to her hands and knees. Perching up, she shared a look with her fateful companion, shock and awe stricken across her face.

Clarissa was more than able to share the feelings.

A low, loud hum roared through the waves. Both looked out, across the sandy, rocky planes. Several hundred feet out, and looming over them was a massive submarine. They didn't have long to examine it before a massive, bright ball of light ignited off its starboard hull. Clarissa was consumed again, but not by heat this time. Instead, it was somehow worse than their grip on her. She was in pure, pitch black. Unending. She had never felt smaller in her whole life.

And then, she wasn't. She heard a click, a static blast, and an emission of screeching sound erupt from behind her. Wheeling around, she saw Anna Shea with a homemade radio-esque device, cobbled together with all sorts of parts.

"Focus up, child!" Anna called out to her as she began to fiddle with the knobs, carefully scanning across the different channels. "I dare say it's time we went home!"

Clarissa had never been happier to tow the line. She was by Anna's side before the woman could even finish her sentence. "What do you want me to do?" she asked.

Motioning to the large backpack strapped to her back, she lightly shook her handheld device, shaking the cord that ran from it to the backpack. "There's a crank! I need you to operate it! You need to keep this thing powered while I'll find the right wave! In fifty-one, I thought batteries would be enough," she admitted with a scoff. "Rather daft of me, wouldn't you say! Well, now I've got internal and external power supplies!"

They both saw one small, spinning triangle in the void open up, its sides vibrating in pain.

"Hell no! You're doing great, keep it up!" Clarissa encouraged as she unzipped the top and saw the crank. Taking hold of it, she began to pedal it in circles, supercharging the radio.

Sure enough, as Clarissa kept the power flowing, Anna slowly found the right channels, like a combination lock with its individual digits. The small, spinning triangle expanded and grew, lines projecting outwards to form an even larger triangle. Red waves filled the interior.

Anna shouted, "Something's wrong! There should be the cave! Or the beach! Or something on the other si-!"

A static shockwave tore through the void, knocking Clarissa back. Tumbling and turning, she skidded to a halt and leapt to her feet. "Anna?!" she cried out. But Anna was gone.

" **Be still... wo-man... wait... your... turn..."** they boomed, lines vibrating as they spoke. " **Now... Cla-ris-sa... back... a-gain..."**

"Anna?!" Clarissa shrieked, desperately looking around, above, and below herself. "Bring her back!" she demanded.

" **In time... we will... but first... we want... to talk... with you..."** they told her, turning her around to face them.

Clarissa felt the pull, but she didn't see any point in resisting. They'd erased the world around her. There was nowhere to run, nowhere to hide. She focused her thoughts, her feelings. She tried to dive into the Shallows. But this time, there was nothing.

" **That... won't... work... you're in... here with... us..."** they explained, almost with giddiness in their childlike tone. Only, that tone vanished as they roared in pain, lines tearing up and reforming as a static shriek ripped through them. " **Si-lence! Wo-man! Soon... enough!"**

"I'm not letting it end like this!" Clarissa told them. "I'll fight to the end! I'm gonna get out of here or die fighting, God damn it!"

" **Yes... you and... An-na... have the... strength... to fight... this war..."** they happily agreed, to which Clarissa instantly became suspicious. " **But you... don't have... strength... enough... to... win it!"**

Clarissa didn't have a witty comeback. "We'll see about that! She and I have nothing to lose! I'll go down swinging! And so will Anna!" she yelled back.

They chuckled, as if they'd predicted that kind of reply on her part. Swallowing hard, Clarissa tried again to dive into the Shallows.

" **Bar-bar-os-sa... Ty-phoon... Case... Blue..."** they said, almost whispering directly into her ear. That suddenly had her undivided attention. Lines vibrating, they went on, " **On-ward... to... Mos-cow... but Minsk... Smo-lensk... Ki-ev... Vy-az-ma... you know... these vic-tor-ies... be-long... to the... en-emy..."**

"So I know a few things about your war!" she spat. "What's your point?!"

" **You know... these ba-ttles... most... im-pres-sive..."** they acknowledged. " **But we... looked for... you... we saw... you grow... saw you... learn... in school... you want... that pow-er... that con-trol..."**

"Yeah, well the Nazis are dead," Clarissa bluntly reminded them. "And all that's left of them are the fat and stupid guys who can't get a date!"

Chuckling, they reminded her, " **You know... why... they lost! Af-ter the... oil re-serves... all hope... was lost!"**

Clarissa refused to agree with the facts that she had used before. "No! They fought on for four years!"

The Sunken laughed in her face, triangle bending with each breath. " **You said... it your-self! Now you... have the... strength... to fight... but ne-ver... had the... strength... to win! To... de-li-ver... the knock-out... blow!"**

Clarissa shouted, "I'm not an army group! I'm not a fascist state! I'm-! None of that can compare to my fight against you!"

" **We have! Grown stron-ger! And you! Have grown! Weak-er!"** they boomed. " **We have... al-rea-dy... won!"**

Clarissa tried to figure out how exactly she could win, even if Anna was with her now.

" **And we... off-er... new terms... of sur-ren-der. One last... chan-ce..."** they offered, opening another triangle, only it quickly added another side. Glowing red and emitting light, it turned into a diamond. Water began to spill across it, wavy and initially murky; but it quickly became a clear, watery window. Clarissa could see and hear through it. It was Michael's room. His bed. The angle was on its side, looking directly at him. He lay still, on arm stretched out and the other flopped over the window. He was at peace, and without a shirt, snoozing away. The sun slowly slid across his face, its rays chopped up by the blinds on his window. " **You don't... have... to leave."**

Clarissa remembered that morning. It was the last time she saw him. Sorrow overcame her, even as she was confronted by this massive, haunting triangle of sunken spirits, overpowered by its words, its display of superior strength. She recognized that, even as she learned to harness the powers offered by the Shallows, that her brief practice paled in comparison to what was at least fifty years of her own time for the Sunken. But they clearly had more than that, if they had the time to watch her learn about their own war as they searched for her. She had learned to run. Anna had learned to fight. They had joined forces and managed to hurt the creature to some extent, yes, but she saw how they immediately knocked them away. If Anna had managed to fight on, inflicting that brief spark of pain on them in her absence, she didn't seem capable of continuing the fight now. Clarissa considered playing for time, but with her own movement restricted to an endless void, she didn't see how she could prolong this with just her words. Thoughts of standing fast and holding on to what she had gained deteriorated as she stared at Michael. She was so close to the window.

"I... I just walk? Through it?" she hesitantly wondered, swallowing hard and wiping away the sweat that had accumulated throughout the entire, intense struggle she and Anna had endured in the void. "What about Anna?"

" **You know... a good... bar-gain..."** they encouraged, the portal floating every so slightly closer, almost nudging against her. " **Take... it..."**

With it so close to her, Clarissa could feel the warmth. She knew it just had to be her body heat mixed with Michael's, tightly trapped under his heavy, wool sheets. She was always so caught off guard in that moment that she rarely realized the familiarity of that warmth.

Clarissa was ready to go home.

Many times, she did.

But not this time.

"I'll take my chances, you evil slice of pizza!" she shouted, stepping back from the portal. "I can do this a thousand times!"

They chuckled, lines jiggling. " **We... on-ly... need... any one."**

Clarissa wanted to cry as the portal slowly, teasingly undoing itself, lines of the glowing red diamond disintegrating into dust. It was all swept away before her very eyes, the last image of Michael at peace burning into her soul.

" **You two... can go... for... Krusk!"** they laughed, lines wildly jiggling as they pulled Anna back into existence. Her screaming was still going strong.

"Katie!" she shrieked, immediately locking on to her only ally. "Grab on!" she begged, thrusting her hand forward, terror stricken across her face as she made her way to the young woman.

Clarissa was more than happy to tow the line one last time. "Let's give it everything we've got!" she encouraged as she took hold of Anna's hand. "Here, let me help you!" she offered, going for the backpack again.

"Not gonna work!" Anna quickly explained as she thrust her own handheld radio into Katie's hands. "They've adapted to it, squirming little bastards! We'll have one shot at this, so pay attention!" she demanded as she pulled out a second handheld unit, originally connected to the backpack; but Anna yanked it loose. "Find a frequency that hurts them and stay on it! I'll back you up!" she instructed while she plugged batteries into her own unit.

"I hope this works!" Clarissa screamed as she started to turn the knob clockwise. "We're not in the Shallows anymore! Things are different on this side!"

"I figured that out when they shot me to the end of Time!" Anna assured her as she powered up.

Clarissa found the channel she needed, 72.2, and a static tearing echoed behind them.

" **Ah!"** they screamed out, the lines of their triangle fracturing and tearing.

Wheeling around, she and Anna saw that a small, spinning triangle had formed.

Clarissa's radio started to scramble. She tried to adjust the knob, but all she got was static across all channels. Desperate, she called out, "Anna!"

"I know!" she assured her, gluing her eyes to her own device. "You broke their line on the left flank! Now I'll hit the right!" she explained as she began to tune into the source. After a few tense moments, she found it at 100.2 and forced that spinning triangle to burst outwards, its lines spirling and entangling into a multitude of different triangles. Shortly after this advance, Anna was bogged down by fierce resistance and was unable to advance any further. She made another attempt to find a new frequency, only for her radio unit to burst into flames.

"Your turn!" Anna shouted as she threw her burning radio at the Sunken.

Clarissa didn't need to be told twice. She had already begun to search for that source, and it seemed that luck was finally on her side. She finally found it on 120.5 and watched with awe and fear as the dozen-or-so triangles erupted into solid lines, which bent into a massive triangle.

" **Ah!"** they shouted again, tearing into static before reforming into jiggling lines.

A watery surface began to spread across it, and a murky location with a turquoise glow began to form. She recognized it as the cave where it all had started.

Unbuckling her bulky and heavy backpack, Anna let it fall to the void as she screamed, "Bloody Hell, that's wonderful! Give me the rado! Let's go!"

Clarissa quickly threw it at Anna, who eagerly caught it and began to jump for it, her feet staying off the ground as she "swam" for the portal. In the chaos of the moment, Clarissa wasn't sure how she could swim in the empty void, but jumping and violently flailing her arms and legs did the trick, more or less. It left her floating in air for a while, though she doubted if she had ever been on actual ground in the first place. She closed the distance with Anna and hastily passed by, her athleticism and youth granting her a severe advantage in strength and stamina. Subsequently, she reached the triangle, their portal, and saw that it was slowly shrinking. Inches away, she stopped and looked back at Anna, who was a few meters from her. Reaching out, Clarissa shouted, "Hurry! Let's get the Hell outta here!"

Anna quickly fiddled with the radio, causing the portal to temporarily widen and the Sunken to scream in pain. Then, she reached out.

" **Ah! Ha! Ha-ha-ha!"** they laughed, their pained screams long gone. " **Now... it's... our turn!"**

Eighty five thin red lines and twelve thick red threads burst forth from the Sunken's triangle, quickly coalescing into one massive thread. It shot forward towards the two women and formed into a jagged, clawed hand. Anna shrieked as it latched onto her left hand, the one that held their only radio. The hand emanated the very same warmth that both had felt when the Sunken had pulled them under in the Shallows, and when it had dragged them into this void. It quickly yanked back, but Anna held fast, and Clarissa had the instinct to grab onto the very edge of their portal.

The human line went taut, both women screaming as their muscles became strained; but Anna felt a thousand needles made of static pierce her hand and lower arm.

Clarissa shouted and begged, "Let go of it!" She felt like either her wrist or shoulder were going to explode, or her whole arm was just going to rip apart. Her scream turned into, "I can't-!"

Through the pain Anna, screamed back, "We need! To close! The portal! Other! Side!" Her lungs gave out, and she resorted to hyperventilating for her breaths, screaming as she both exhaled and inhaled.

" **We on-ly... need the... one..."** they laughed as their grip tightened on Anna.

It proved to be too much for her. The intensity broke her voice, and she finally fell silent. Slouching, she dropped the radio and let go of Katie.

Clarissa shrieked like a banshee, calling out in vain as she watched Anna fall to the ground. The radio landed shortly after her and shattered. She couldn't count the number of pieces that went in every direction. Heaving, she looked back up. The portal was closing and had maybe ten more seconds of space for her. She looked down at Anna, who was slowly being dragged towards the Sunken. Seconds felt like an eternity. She swallowed hard. Clarissa made a split-second decision. She shouted a protest, swinging forward. Just as the giant red hand began to pull Anna's limp body into the depths, Clarissa hurled herself towards Anna.


	17. Chapter 17: Operation Watch on The Rhine

Cool, seasalt air hit her face. Anna awoke to the smell of the ocean. She heard seagulls squawking overhead. The warm daylight hit her face. The dryness in her mouth was insatiable, and she cracked her eyes open. She looked up to see Katie staring down at her with a smile.

Literally on the edge of her seat, specifically the passenger bench, Clarissa looked down, head hanging over Anna. She slowly asked, "Are you hurt?"

Anna tried to swallow. It was like a storm had rinsed all the water out and dumped the salt directly down her throat. "I..." she quietly croaked before wheezing in pain. "Bloody..." she tried to curse as she grasped at her throat.

Relieved, Clarissa felt calmed down enough to scoot back, leaning against the bench and taking a breath of relief. She offered Anna a thermos. "Here, drink up. I figured you'd need it," she explained as Anna sat up and happily took the massive cup into her own grasp. She spent a moment looking at it, just to make sure she wasn't imagining it. Satisfied, she greedily began to drink.

It was the tastiest water she had ever had, and she downed the cup in an instant. When it was gone, she licked her lips and sighed in satisfaction. "More?" she quietly asked, her voice still strained.

Smirking, Clarissa nodded and told her, "There's a water fountain uptop, in front of the helm."

Shocked, Anna asked, "We're on...?" She had to clear her throat. She wanted to go on, but the throat was just causing her too much trouble.

A cool gust of salty wind blew through their hair, matted and dirty. Clarissa patted her on the shoulder. "Go drink up. I'll explain on the way."

She wasn't in a mental state to question the young woman. Anna happily made her way uptop and filled up on sweet, chilled, life-giving water for several minutes until it gave her brain freeze. She rested her weary head against the wall for a few minutes, let the pain pass her by like a rude tailgater, and resumed her ravenous drinking for several more minutes, pausing to take a few breaks.

As funny as it was to hear her gulping away, Clarissa wasn't in a laughing mood. She had also had to help herself before Anna had woken up.

Confident that her throat was soothed, and that her stomach would burst if she drank any more, Anna returned to the passenger deck just in time for them to pull up to Edwards Island. "I dare say you'll have to pinch me. I'm not sure I'm actually awake..." she breathed as they stepped off the boat. "The island looks... different?"

Reaching into her pocket, Clarissa pulled out a pack of cigarettes and her Vietnam-war-parody lighter. Cigarette in her mouth, she stared down at the lighter, hesitating. After a few moments, she popped it open and ignited, this time successfully. She let go of the breath she didn't know she was holding and happily lit up her cigarette while offering the pack to Anna, who happily accepted. As Clarissa blew a billow of smoke into the air, she held her lighter out to Anna, who bent down to catch the flame. "Yeah... you haven't seen it exactly like this before. But I think you're gonna like it. Come on, let's go."

Intrigued, Anna followed behind, puffing away as they strolled through the tunnel. "Where are we going? And how did we defeat the Sunken?"

Frowning, Clarissa took a nice, long drag and slowly blew the smoke out as they reached Beacon Beach. "You blacked out and fell, but I went after you. I got the portal open again by tuning into the source with your radio. It didn't work at first; it took a nasty fall, but I got it working."

It sounded too good to be true. "You dragged me through?!" she nearly gawked. "Good lord, child! Where do you hide the muscle?!"

Coughing on her cigarette, Clarissa tossed it into the sand and scanned the beach. A cold wind blew through, reminding her why it was almost abandoned. She found one woman with a dog meandering along with a metal detector. She was walking towards them but didn't seem to notice her. Panicking, Clarissa quickly called out, "Hey! Lady! You got the time?!"

Everyone stared at Clarissa, the strange young woman who didn't have a watch on her. The dog walker pulled out her phone and yelled back, "It's four-forty! I gotta walk this boy tomorrow too, wanna bug me then?!"

Smirking, Clarissa let out a sigh of relief and kept walking. "Nah, I'm good! You have a good day!" she loudly offered. Normally, she would have been happy to start a fight. But she was uncharacteristically at peace today. "C'mon," she encouraged to Anna, who hesitantly followed behind. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a key.

How much farther they were going no longer became an issue for Anna when she saw the wooden staircase they were about to take. "My word, it's cold," she muttered through chattering teeth. As they made their way to the top, she asked, "Do you already know the day and year?"

Entering through the gate, Clarissa left the key in the lock and began to make her way down to the Adler Estate. "Yeah, I was under a lot of pressure, but I managed to get us to a time where Mags is here," she mumbled.

Right on the girl's heels, Anna suddenly became a lot more anxious. "Really? Is she well? How far in the future are we? How much older is she? What are we doing here? How will we- won't she- this is far too surreal. Dare I wonder if I'm even welcome?"

Sighing, Clarissa was happy that she had reached the front door. She forcibly moved Anna off to the right, well out of view from the doorway. "Just... just stay there for a bit, okay?" she asked as she rang the doorbell. "I'll handle the tough part. Try not to fall apart now."

Entirely depending on the woman, Anna held her breath and desperately prayed both that it would go well and that Mags just wouldn't be home today. "Bloody Hell, it's the first date all over again," she huffed as she nervously fidgeted with her hands.

Letters hadn't been taken inside. The mailbox was almost overwhelming. Clarissa took it upon herself to package it all up in a stack and put on her best smile. She had the time. It took a few minutes for the massive, wooden door to creak open. An old lady in her mid to late seventies answered, dressed in plain, black pants and a pink shirt with white flower patterns on it. Her saggy face had a very good poker face on, though her tone was clearly miffed. Running a wrinkled hand through her coarse, grey hair, she asked, "I don't see no park office uniform on ya'. What brings ya here?" Her voice had a lot more gravel in it, thanks to decades of smoking.

Finding the right words, Clarissa took a moment, buying time with a nice, long, deep breath. "Sorry to bother you, Mags. I'm just here to deliver your messages for you," she explained as she held out the small mountain of letters. Acting wasn't her choice of electives in school, and Anna's quiet tears weren't helping.

Filth might as well have covered the bills and ads, Maggie looked at them with about as much disgust. She snatched them out of Clarissa's hand. "That's what the damn mailbox is fo-" She paused, door halfway closed. She squinted, cocking her head, much to Clarissa's confusion. Opening up the door in full, she stood tall and proud, though she came up a foot short to Clarissa. "What did you just call me?"

Once smiling, Clarissa suddenly found herself frowning and sweating. "Maggie? Maggie Adler?" she squeaked out.

Realizing that her ears weren't playing tricks on her this time, Maggie shook her head and threw a finger out at the girl. in her doorway. "No... No, you called me 'Mags'. No one's called me that in ages. Ah never seen you before, neither! How the Hell d'you know that nickname?"

Anna couldn't take it anymore. "It's me, Mags," she whimpered, unable to keep her tears quiet any longer.

Not sure of Maggie's heart strength, Clarissa quickly threw her arm out to keep Anna at bay. Seeing the shock, terror, and disbelief spreading across the old lady's face, Clarissa quickly asked, "If you see a ghost, are you gonna have a heart attack or what?"

Nostrils flaring, Mags felt a renewed strength surge from within her old soul. Glaring at the child in her doorway, she threatened, "Get outta my way before I get my gun!"

Anna didn't wait for Katie to move of her own accord. She pushed her way through and appeared before Maggie Adler, arms open and tears in her eyes. "Oh, Mags!" she cried.

Bewildered and frozen, Mags couldn't move as Anna embraced her. It took several moments for her to remember to breath, and a few more to remember to return the hug. They hugged without so much as exchanging one word, Anna burying her crying eyes into the crux of Maggie's neck, and Maggie could barely blink as she felt Anna pressing against her. Several more moments passed before Maggie raised her stiff arms and embraced Anna. "God in Heaven," she muttered in amazement. "You're real. You're real. You're real, this time."

Unable to move, or rather, unwilling to move, Anna happily nodded. "Oh, Mags. I was always real."

Touched by the reunion, Clarissa sighed with content. Leaning on the patio railing, she admired the scene in silence, only glancing up once to see the porch light flicker from yellow to red, then back to yellow. Huffing, Clarissa took out a cigarette.

It took the two women several minutes to finish their hug. Mags needed a little more proof for her satisfaction. Pulling back, she stared into Anna's eyes and finally let herself cry. Anna wouldn't stand for it and pulled her over to the sofa. They were long overdue for a quiet evening by the radio. Clarissa figured she should shut the door; Maggie wasn't paying to heat the outdoors, after all. Besides, it gave her a chance to burn through the rest of her cigarettes. She lit up as a cold wind cut through her skin. She didn't mind the cold anymore. She just wondered how long those two would take.

They cried, laughed, and cried some more as they finally accepted that the other was real and touchable. Maggie finally managed to observe, "You ain't aged a day."

Ignoring her own tears, Anna laughed and ran a hand over Maggie's cheek. "You aged a lot, my dear. I dare say it's all the stressing my supposed death caused you," she theorized.

Shuddering at the woman's soft touch, Mags shot back, "Get old like me, you'll get a dose o' wrinkles and saggin' skin, too!" They laughed again, tears rolling down.

Anna felt she should explain, "I tried to reach out to you. I had to play by a rather peculiar set of rules. The Sunken nearly managed to keep me and Katie trapped with them forever."

Never once forgetting the pain from that fateful day, Maggie confessed, "It... wasn't easy. Sometimes, I felt I'd just gone crazy... but it was you, wasn't it? Those Morse Code spurts over my evenin' broadcasts?"

Nodding, Anna tapped her finger on Maggie's nose. "Clever girl, as always. I had limited success and was on the clock. Katie was being chased around the universe by them. I had to abandon my plans of coordinating a counterattack with you and focus on rebuilding and improving my contact device. I do apologize for robbing you."

Analyzing those peculiar days where she could have sworn she'd misplaced valuables, Maggie started to piece it together. "Did you steal my food?!" she suddenly realized, eyes widening as she figured out that she hadn't just forgotten how little she'd left in the fridge before her trip. "You slippery, lil' devil! I outta tan your hide!" she laughed as she threw her arms out at the woman.

Well-equipped to tackle the smaller and now much older woman, Anna easily held her arms at a safe distance, much to Maggie's frustration. "I owed a very nice meal to Katie! She was invaluable to me! It was just the two of us standing against the Sunken, I'll have you know. She is owed far more than that."

Honoring the promises she had made to God on the more desperate nights, Maggie took a deep breath and pulled Annie into a hug. "I'm just glad to have you back, Annie."

Overwhelming as it was, Anna found the strength to return the hug. She couldn't believe it, after an eternity of suffering and perilous adventure she was finally back home. "Mags. My feisty, loaded Mags. I never gave up hope that I'd get back to you. I'm so sorry it-"

"Stop," Mags begged, breathing into Anna. "I'm too tired to- I just." She pulled away, carefully breathing in and out. She stared into space and took her time, clutching her chest with each breath. "I'm... I'm fine, Annie. I'm just... I'm just tired. And I wanted to tell you that I'm the one who's sorry... blood on my hands. My fault it happened. My fault I lost you. You were right, that night. I've... I've just been so sorry."

Annie understood. Nodding along, she patted the woman on her back. "I can certainly imagine so. I was there, Mags. Not for all of it, of course, but I will admit I made a bit of a spectacle as I cried alongside you for those nights," she revealed with a soft smile. "Not enough tea to help me then, that's for sure," she tried to add with a laugh. It came out more as a huff.

Victory for them had come at a high price, too high for Maggie. She slowly drifted in and out of awareness as Anna drabbled on, as she tended to do when left unchecked. After a few more minutes of Anna recounting her adventures with Katie, Maggie phased back in one last time. "I'm... I'm sorry, Annie. I... words can't begin to describe my joy that you're here," she acknowledged as she put her legs up on the coffee table and leaned back, into the couch and against Annie. "But I... I just need to lay down."

Ensuring that Mags had enough room, Annie put her arm around her and snuggled up to her. "I dare say you've earned it. Perhaps when you wake up, I could whip up some shepherd's pie? Or maybe you'd prefer to treat me to some flapjacks? I daresay if this isn't a day worth celebrating, nothing ever shall be!" she laughed as she cozied up and placed her spare, left hand on Mags' stomach. It steadily lifted up and down with each breath; she hadn't done that in decades, and it hadn't lost an ounce of its charm.

Sleep coming on strong, Maggie took a heavy breath, eyes halfway closed. "I'd like that a lot, Annie," she decided as she draped her hand over Annie's. Swallowing, Mags grinned and murmured, "You're the best thing... t' ever happen t' me... I'm glad you... came back." As she sleep almost took her, she looked down at Annie's smooth hands and then her own, wrinkled ones. For a moment, one glorious moment that lasted far longer than she felt she had earned, she could see herself in her uniform. With Corporal Anna Shea at her side, they sat on her old, favorite couch and listened to Roosevelt's Fireside Chats. They would hold each other as they listened, danced to music, and shared their love and passion for one another as the night drew to a close. And in the end of that moment, she knew she had done alright.

"I never stopped missin' you," she admitted, closing her eyes.

"Hell and high water couldn't keep me away," Annie assured her, closing her own eyes. She was legitimately proud of herself this day. Overcoming the challenges that would have broken so many others, Annie stood fast against it all and fought to the end, and she had been victorious. She thought of Odysseus returning home to his wife and murdering all of the nasty suitors. It was truly a triumph for her, one that she would have to commemorate with a meal worthy of angels. Mags had grown old and alone. She deserved so much more, and Annie finally had time to give it to her. There was time enough at last, and she wasn't going to waste a single moment of it. She was tired, but she was charged with energy. So, while Mags slept, Annie dreamed up plans. After a wonderful dinner with her and Katie, she'd have a late night of fine wine and trade stories. The next day, she'd arrange for proper vacation traveling. She wondered what would be more interesting: She could show Mags the quaint, bustling, and rainy lifestyle of England; and they could visit her hometown of Dagenham. If they were going to land in London, they might as well. Not to mention, they could visit the beach. On the other hand, they could go to Germany. Mags had never set foot there, and Annie had only gone when it was the Weimar Republic. It would put them both on pretty even footing. Then again, they would need a tour guide. Annie considered some other countries for several more minutes.

Everything was set for the immediate future. Annie vowed to get them out of this house and off the island for good. Sighing with joy, she leaned into Mags and felt comfortable enough with her rough plans to doze off. It was when her mind was cleared that she noticed that her hand, left on Mags' stomach, had stopped moving. Mags lay perfectly still.

Reeling back, Annie pattied Mags on the thigh. "Mags?" She patted Mags again, more firmly. "Mags, hey, come on," she urged. Struggling to breath, Anna watched the peaceful woman lean into the couch, a small smile left on her wrinkled features. "Mags, please," Anna begged, unwrapping her arm from the woman's shoulders. "I just got back. This isn't fair. You can't-! Help! Katie! Katie, get in here! God, help me!" she cried out, heaving as she struggled to breathe. "This isn't fair! There was time! Oh, God, no, no, no!" she sobbed, tears flowing freely as she took Maggie's hands into her own, desperate to hold on to the very end. She repeated Maggie's nickname again and again, more and more distorted as her breathing became more and more disheveled.

Clarissa was by her side in a moment. "I'm so sorry, Anna," she whispered, wrapping her arms around her. "You were here for her, in her final moments. You gave her joy she hadn't felt in ages."

Anna was inconsolable. She buried her head into Maggie's lap, refusing to budge. Clarissa dared not interfere; she let the woman weep for as long as she needed. Clarissa had been in the same situation before, for Nona's grandfather passed away. She knew better and kept quiet, letting Anna have her time. They had that much, at the very least.

Finally, after nearly thirty minutes, Anna felt composed enough to stand up. "W-would you... be a dear and lay her down?" she asked, her voice quivering as she barely held it together. She moved to the linen closet and got a blanket.

Clarissa did what was asked of her. Maggie Adler was peacefully laid to rest, on the sofa where she and Anna had celebrated their victory over Midway. It had been such a tender moment. Clarissa would never have believed it if someone had told her sweet, short Mags would have such a bloodlust. Sighing, she made sure the woman was decent, and Anna gave her one end of the blanket, sewn into a red, white, and blue pattern. Together, they covered her.

"I need to- oh God," Anna couldn't go on. "Could you- please, just... we need to call the office. I won't have her rot here!" she demanded, tears pouring forth again.

Clarissa gently nudged her to the front door. "I'll call them. You wait outside."

Sniffling, Anna nodded. "Thank you, dear," she offered as she nearly stumbled out of the house, another wave of agony ready to break through. She managed to save face by getting out the door before it flooded.

Taking a deep, calming breath, Clarissa made short work of the task. The phone number was on the fridge, and an old, rotary phone had been mounted to the wall at some point beyond the sixties. The office had closed at 4:30, but she left a message. Hanging up, Clarissa took one last look at the place. The kitchen window had remained unlocked. Surfaces were dusty. Wine had been left unopened. Clarissa checked the patio. Once she confirmed that Anna was better off alone for the foreseeable future Clarissa decided that she was going to help herself to some of that wine, given all that had happened and all that had yet to happen. She washed out a dusty coffee mug and proceeded to go to town on the bottle. It warmed her up, but it hardly calmed her nerves.

Clarissa needed to finish things, and she knew she was running out of time. The flickering, red light in the hallway was far too blunt of a reminder. She hurriedly washed the cup, put the bottle back on the wine rack, and turned off all the lights on her way out. Passing by the bookshelf, she stopped and stared. Clarissa took in the impressive collection, reading some of the titles. "Those weren't even yours," she scoffed as she made her way outside. She found Anna sitting on the front steps, overlooking the miniature harbor with the small boat. If it weren't such a sad mood, she'd have found it pretty. She sat down next to Anna and waited for her to speak first.

Anna needed a little while longer to compose herself. "I do apologize. I'm afraid I won't be as composed as I've been in the past," she mumbled, throat bogged down by mucus and misery. Snorting hard, she wiped her eyes again. "Where do I even go from here? Mags was my partner. It all feels so empty now. I... I had a life after her. But she was always missing from it."

Clarissa patted her on the back. "You'll figure it out. You're a resourceful woman," she encouraged. She looked away as she offered her reassurance. She couldn't bare to stare her in the eye. "I... I'm sorry. I tried to get us back to an earlier time. This was the best I could do."

Anna didn't have the stomach to reply for a while. It took her a minute to just keep her composure together, and two more after that to choke down all the terrible thoughts of what she could have done with those extra days, or months, or even years. At last, she managed, "I'm grateful. You were with me to the end, and you... well, I was left to die. You fought them off all by yourself. I'm the one who's sorry for not helping out in the final battle."

Scoffing, Clarissa took a deep breath and told her, "It wouldn't have mattered anyways."

Anna looked back at her. Her heart began to race as she slowly asked, "What did you do, child?"

Sighing, Clarissa scrunched her lips and took one last look at the pretty scenery. She looked Anna in the eye and told her, "You fell. The radio broke. I thought about leaving you. They said they only needed one person to possess. You didn't deserve- I couldn't abandon- I _wouldn't_ abandon you. So I-"

Anna slapped her hands against her face. Standing up, she muttered, "God, no. You didn't."

"Well I did," Clarissa grunted, crossing her arm. "They offered me a pretty sweet deal before they brought you back to me. I refused. Then they wiped you out! I had no choice! I surrendered! And they laughed! I tried to get a better deal out of it, but this was all I could get for you!"

Heaving, Anna slowly slid down the wall, desperate to catch her breath. It had been such a relief, to live life believing that the Sunken had been sealed away. She had wondered why Katie wasn't in a high spirit such as hers. "What was the deal?" she managed to squeak out. "I'm not going to just sit on my tush, child. We have to fight-"

"Oh my God, you need to learn when you're beaten," Clarissa groaned, craning her head and rolling her eyes. "We came. We saw. We failed. I convinced them to let us come back here, the day she dies."

"And then what?!" Anna yelled at her as she stomped back and forth across the wooden walkway. "We go back to them, hands above our heads?! We stop fighting?! Peace in our time?!" she spat in utter disgust. "I dare say you became a defeatist, child. I was taught to never give up, to never-"

"Never surrender! Fight 'em on the beaches, the landing grounds, the hills, etcetera, etcetera!" Clarissa hastily recalled. "Yeah, I know! But you don't seem to understand that you're not across the Channel! You're in Paris! And the Panzers have just rolled in, singing 'Panzerlied'!" she screamed, sweeping her arms up in a dramatic fashion to emphasize her point. "It's over, Anna! Everything I did, it was to get us out alive, but I couldn't beat them, Anna! I had to surrender to them!"

"Jog on! You are so full of shit!" Anna yelled, crossing her arms and glaring at the child. "I refuse to go back to them!"

"You won't have to! They only need one!" Clarissa told her. "You can stay here, Anna!" Clarissa shouted, lips scrunched and breathing sparse. "I... I'm the lucky volunteer!"

Anna stopped, staring up at Katie. Young and prideful, she stood defiantly at the top of the stairs. Behind her, the porch light began to glow bright red. "When... do you go?" she quietly asked.

Running her hands down her face, Clarissa wondered if she should just take her chances on the boat and sail away. Wishing herself into the Shallows wasn't working. Groaning, Clarissa told herself to stop thinking about it; she had already accepted her fate. She walked down the wooden steps and stood face-to-face with Anna. "My time is pretty much up. I got them to let me hang around for this, a bit more for clean up, and a little after that for goodbyes."

Anna stared at the woman, shocked and awed.

Taking a much needed breath, Clarissa assured her, "I've been abandoned. I wasn't going to do that to you. I know you're not as young as you used to be, but you don't deserve what happened to you. Neither did I, but hey." Shrugging her shoulders, she offered, "This way, I managed to get us out of it."

Anna felt the shame run over her like a truck. She hadn't had time to fully process this, much less the death of her last, true friend, her former lover, her better half. There simply wasn't time for it. But there was time to acknowledge that, as an older woman, she had learned more and could see just how promising Katie's future was compared to that of a burnt out, broken old maid like herself. It was clear to her that Katie's sacrifice, while noble, was something only a young and optimistic. "I'm so sorry," she told her. "You were very brave. I can see that my determination to fight on is a moot point."

Clarissa subscribed to the ideology that a true victory was one in which the enemy realized that it was wrong of them to ever oppose her in the first place. This was one of the most gratifying things she'd ever feel. It was easily the high water mark for her, so she raised her right hand high above her head, into the air. She started to press her thumb to her middle finger. "That means a lot to me, Anna. Thank you. And for what it's worth, I'm glad I went down fighting with you," she admitted as she flicked her wrist and snapped her fingers.

Anna jolted as a triangle popped into existence and began to expand outwards, its lines forming a larger triangle. The interior transformed from a watery, red wave to a solid, black, endless void. With the evening fog rolling in, the lone crow cawing in the distance, and the dim rays of the sun piercing through the overcast clouds Anna felt it really was the end of times for her. The old maid, saying goodbye to the young and promising lady who could do anything with her whole life in front of her. It was a horrible way to end things.

Anna held out her right hand. "I'm glad I had the luxury to say goodbye to Mags. And I'm eternally grateful that I got to send you off, Katie."

Clarissa took hold of Anna, who had a very strong grip for such a dainty lady. Grinning, Clarissa took a deep breath and finally corrected her, "Same to you, Anna. But you should know I'm-"

Anna stuck her right foot in front of Katie's left and yanked her forward, knocking the girl off balance. Acting as the counterweight, Anna nearly flung her off the wooden walkway and into the water below. She stood still for a moment, just to make sure that the girl came up for air.

Clarissa came up quite furiously. "Anna!" she shrieked. "Don't you _fucking_ dare!" she demanded as she began to swim for the walkway. "I gave up! It's my responsibility!" she roared as she grabbed onto the walkway and began to pull herself up. "I need to do this!" she cried, angry and guilty.

"Do me a favor, dear!" Anna shouted back as she stepped backwards towards the edge of the walkway. With the amused hum droning on behind her, she felt she was close enough to fall backwards. Swallowing hard, and taking her last breath, Anna Shea made her final request.

"Be more than you were before! And wash out that potty mouth! I dare say it's unbecoming of a lady as beautiful as you!"

Screaming, Clarissa finally got back on her feet, salt water weighing her down. But at last, she was able to grab Anna, to hold her down, to convince her to not throw away the rest of her years. She didn't get a chance to reply. Anna was gone.


	18. Chapter Eighteen: Operation Solstice

At first, Clarissa just stood there. The sun slowly set, and night crept up from the horizon. After a while, she lost the strength to stand and sat down. It was horribly quiet. No static, no flickering from a red light, no murmuring. She fell into such a trance that she eventually fell asleep, laying down on the wooden walkway. This slumber was plagued with nightmares, and she awoke with horrible guilt and a terrible shiver, as the salt water had given her a nasty chill. Miraculously, she managed to get back home; but all the while she kept trying to dive into the Shallows, to save her friend, to spare her the fate that she didn't deserve. She had no power. They'd taken that from her too. Left with nothing else to do about it, Clarissa had a hard time adjusting to normal life. She forgot that she needed to eat; after all, she had only eaten one good meal in the whole adventure. She was surprised at how much water a human needed, and how frequently she needed it too. Sleep was the worst of it all. She dared not sleep, but after the first day and a half she dozed off, only to be abruptly awoken by a burning sweat and red, staticy nightmares. Worst of all, her parents were out of town, along with her dog; no one was there to assist her. She fell far, fast, and without end. After another twelve hours, she was officially a hollow wreck. But she'd been a wreck for the whole adventure, too. It all just came full circle, and she entered into a sleep deprived state of lucidity.

The star student never missed school. So, when she didn't show up on Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday morning Nona had been ready to call the police. During lunch, she had asked around. It had been no surprise to her when nobody had anything to report, but that Ren kid had stepped forward. His sister, Allie, had talked with a friend, a former coworker at the Parks Office on Edwards Island. Apparently, this friend had come into the office on Wednesday morning and heard Clarissa on the message machine, reporting the death of an island resident. Grateful, Nona was able to place Clarissa's location on the island for Tuesday; but that still left Wednesday and today. After school let out, she had been walking home with her phone in her hand. She was looking up the non-emergency phone number to use when Clarissa called her.

Clarissa never, ever called her; at best, Clarissa could be bothered to toss out a short text. Answering eagerly, Nona quickly confirmed that Clarissa hadn't been the victim of a slasher film or some other bloody fate. Clarissa spoke almost like a ghost; she had been so quiet and sad. Nona had been extremely confused by the girl's emptiness in her soul, but she believed in the sincerity of her best friend's wishes, that Nona come over today. Again, it was out of left field; they were going to see each other on the island tomorrow afternoon. If Clarissa knew she would see Nona at a given date in the future, then she'd just drop her until that day came. The real surprise met Clarissa at the front door. A slightly musky odor waffed towards her, free to mingle in the fresh air. Clarissa's red hair was a frizzy mess, matted and oily, Her skin was smeared and dirty. Her clothes were dry but crusty; they smelled like the ocean. The girl's lips were chapped, cracked, and dried blood crusted on them. Dark, wrinkled bags hung under her beautiful, brown eyes. Clarissa was clearly exhausted, but she bore a smile for Nona.

"Hey," Clarissa greeted.

Nona almost reeled back. "Jesus Christ!" she heaved, flicking her arms in front of her for dramatic effect. Rapidly blinking her eyes, Nona turned her head away and took in fresh air. "Have you been eating rotting flesh?!"

Chuckling, Clarissa explained, "No, just lots of fish with lots of onion. I haven't brushed my teeth in two days. Sorry." She stepped aside and motioned with her hand. "Come on in."

Nona was happy to do so, but she held her breath as she passed. "You've never been a mess, Clarissa. What's up?" she wondered as they strolled past the happy picture frames of Clarissa in cute clothes and growing up in professional backdrops, her long hair suddenly getting short at thirteen. As she came to the main living room, she sat down on the sofa. "Here's good?" she asked.

Shaking her head, Clarissa waited for her to stand back up. "I'm working in the kitchen right now. I promise, it's not that bad."

"Wow, not even your room is available?" Nona joked as she stood up and followed Clarissa down another hallway, this one lined with photos of Clarissa scoring victories in various races, posing with elaborate trophies and medals. Nona's favorite was the one where she and Michael splashed water on a triumphant and sweaty but proud Clarissa.

"You don't wanna see my room. It smells even worse," Clarissa warned her as they entered the small kitchen. Package wrappings were strewn all over the floor. Cut up vegetable ends had been left in a trash can that was almost overflowing, its contents smelly and old. The sink was piled up with used cooking equipment; pots, pans, skillets, and a few plates. The plates were the worst offenders, clearly caked in gunk.

Raising her eyebrows, Nona scrunched her lips and nodded. "Oookay, good to know. Wanna tell me what's up with you? Here, I'll dry if you scrub and wash," she offered as she headed for the sink.

"Yeah, that sounds... that sounds good." Taking a deep breath, Clarissa shrugged her shoulders, kicking packages across the floor as she walked. "I kinda went through a lot recently. It dragged on a lot longer for me than it actually did, but it wasn't fun. It gave me a lot of time to think about myself and what I want to do in life." She started the water and handed Nona the only pair of gloves. It was Clarissa's mess, so she'd bite the bullet and get her hands dirty. She stood in silence, blanking out and staring into space as the water ran over the mountain and slowly warmed up.

"What happened?" Nona asked, her concern growing as she saw Clarissa's sincerity in her self-reflection. On a normal day, she'd never admit to being in the wrong on anything. "Or is it just a private matter?"

Groaning, Clarissa flinched. She flicked her hand back and forth across the water until it was to her liking. Grabbing her scrubbing sponge, she got to work on the most recent plate. "I... I wanna tell you, but it's a lot. I'll tell you more about it in the future. For now, I just wanted to tell you how much I appreciate and value you, Nona."

To that, Nona had to smile. "Well, how could I turn that down?"

Chuckling, Clarissa bobbed her head from side-to-side. "It's not a thing I do... I don't do a lot of things I should do. And I'll be changing that. You're my only, real friend. It's unfair of me to put that kind of pressure on you, but we just hit it off so well. I'd do almost anything for you." She finished getting most of the gunk off of the plate. Holding it under some more, she rinsed the rest off and gave it to Nona.

"Like what?" Nona eagerly challenged with a grin, accepting the plate. She went to work, vigorously wiping away before putting it on the drying rack. "What amazing features can I expect with the new Clarissa-X?"

Smirking, Clarissa grabbed the skillet and gave it the same scrubbing treatment. She promised, "I'll chat with you more than once a month over the phone, for starters. I'm not gonna boss you around anymore. I'll actually think about what you want. I've been a pretty distant friend, and I don't want you to drift away from me."

"I'd never do that," Nona affirmed, heart racing. Daring to be bold, she slipped off one of her gloves and placed her hand on Clarissa's shoulder. "You're my best friend, Clarissa. Besides, you know how hard it is for me to make friends. I'm too far into life now to start over!"

Laughing, Clarissa shook her head. With a heavy heart and a wet hand, she held Nona's for just a moment. But then she had to remove it and put it back in Nona's space. "And I'm so, so sorry that I'm not attracted to you."

To that, Nona froze.

Clarissa put the skillet down. "I know it's different in other lives," she told Nona, who had yet to recover from the swerve in the conversation. "But I'm- I just don't see you like that. I'm sorry. I'd return the affection if I could."

"Well," Nona hesitantly breathed, "Michael was pretty good-"

"No, no!" Clarissa said, shaking her head. "Forget about Michael. This is about you. I'm talking about you and me, okay? I know you can be happy with so many other people. It just can't be me. I'll be here, actually be here, but I can only be your friend," she promised.

Nona offered a brave smile. "Clarissa... I'm your friend, because I like you. Not- not like that! You know what I mean!" she stumbled, getting flustered. "I'm okay with this, alright? You're not the first girl I've liked and not gotten to like back, it's fine. I've been pretty okay with how we've been. Michael made it clear you weren't up for grabs, so don't worry about me."

Groaning, Clarissa admitted, "I haven't worried about you enough. I just haven't been there, and I'm going to be better about it. That's a promise."

Playfully nudging her in the arm, Nona suggested, "You could try calling me once in a while."

Chuckling, Clarissa nodded and affirmed, "You mean way too much to me for me to just let this slip away. I promise, I'll be here. With you, and for you."

Nona thought about it for a bit. "What happened to you?" she had to wonder. "This has been nice and all. I'm grateful, Clarissa. But what happened? This is just... so unlike you."

Slouching, Clarissa fumbled with her words for a bit. "I'm just... a good friend died. You never met her. None of you did. But she helped me out a lot, and she showed me... helped me... see my own shortcomings. It's complicated, and I'm really not in the mood to talk about it now. But I wanted to tell you what was on my mind. About you." She limply held out her arms. "Can we just hug now? Please?"

"Oh my god, I'm sorry," Nona said as she immediately accepted Clarissa's hug. "I shouldn't have asked."

Groaning, Clarissa mumbled, "I should have just done this on the couch. I thought I'd multitask. I've been trying to keep my mind occupied for two days."

"How much sleep have you been getting?" Nona wondered as they gently swayed. Warm water hit the metallic cookware and gave a soft white noise. "Or should I be asking if you're sleeping at all?"

"Nadda," Clarissa answered. Nona's hair smelled like lavender. It was such a fresh change for her, one of many for which she was grateful. "It's been hell."

"Well, thanks for making amends with me before you pass out and die," Nona grunted, to which Clarissa had to laugh. "What were you making?" she asked as they let go of each other. "It looks like Thanksgiving in here."

Looking down at Nona, Clarissa weighed her options. "I gotta be honest... she made damn good Fish n' Chips. She even served me tea after. All she needed was a top hat."

"Oh, she was British?" Nona asked with a bit of awe. She wasn't aware of any time Clarissa had hosted a foreigner; the opposite was simply impossible. Clarissa would have told her if she was going to the UK, or anywhere in the EU for that matter.

Shrugging, Clarissa nodded. "Very, very British. I've been driving myself crazy trying to get her cooking right."

"You had dinner!" Nona gasped, placing a hand over her flustered heart. This British woman was very lucky. "She cooked you dinner?!"

Smirking, Clarissa decided that the dishes needed to get done now, while Nona was here to help. As she went back to finishing the skillet, she assured her, "It was one time! But I was very impressed."

Nona received the skillet with a pout. "I can cook too. I mean... I can't, but I'm damn good at ordering pizza and junk," she tried to advertise, much to Clarissa's delight.

"Nona... I think you just solved a problem I've been having!" Clarissa declared, gears spinning as she figured out how to kill two birds with one stone.

Much to Nona's delight, a small piece of Clarissa's spirit seemed to be revived. They finished the dishes as a team. Much to Nona's disappointment, Clarissa sent her home with the promise that they'd see each other again, but with different plans for tomorrow than they had originally agreed upon.

After some catching up, Nona gave Clarissa the assignments she had missed for Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Clarissa burned through them before midnight, and for the first time in a small eternity, she went to bed without any trouble. She didn't even have a nightmare; she just woke up to the bright, joyful sun shining in her face. With the whole day ahead of her, she knew exactly what to do. She tossed her clothes into the washer, took a much-needed shower, brushed her teeth, and hopped into her royal blue Toyota Camry.


	19. Chapter 19: Operation Spring Awakening

Alex was put the finishing touches on Michael's bed. His pillow was the last possession to go. Everything else had been cleansed. The morning sun's rays hit her right in the eyes as she stood in front of his bed, but she was far too absorbed in the surrealness to care. This was a young man who had spent his whole life in this bed. It was where he slept, where he read, where he built pillow forts with her. It was where he had spent hundreds of hours doing nightly calls with Clarissa. To commemorate their bond, Clarissa had bought him a burger pillow. It was mostly an oval with poorly printed buns, lettuce, tomato, cheese, and two patties. And now Alex held it in her hands, the last trace of Michael to be removed from his old room. Swallowing hard, Alex wondered if she had enough time to cry before she had to start walking to school. The house was empty; her mom was out on a honeymoon, so she could certainly start out late without fear of reprisal.

Pulling out her phone, she texted her mom, "Room's ready. I'll pick him up after school." She stood in his room for a few more minutes, indecisive about what she should do, with Michael, with school, with everything. Even if she made it through high school without drowning herself, she had no idea what she would do afterwards. Of course, Michael knew exactly what he was going to do: go off to New York with Clarissa, live in a place of their own, and go to college. Mechanical engineering, of all things. How could she ever hold a candle to him, she wondered.

She didn't have long to wonder. The doorbell rang. Alex went downstairs, wondering who it could possibly be at such an early hour. Ren was probably still asleep, she figured. She didn't need to wonder about that either, nor would she have guessed in a million years. "Clarissa?" she nearly gawked.

Nodding, Clarissa looked down at the shorter girl. "Hey. You kept the pillow," she observed with a small smile.

Alex looked down. She hadn't bothered to deposit it anywhere in her trance. "Um... yeah. I just- I never- I didn't have to."

Clarissa nodded again. "Yeah, yeah, I get it. Why bother cleaning up when nobody's using the space, right?"

That snapped Alex out of her shock. "You haven't said that many words to me in one day. Like, ever," she realized. "It's- I didn't think I'd see you until tonight. Or, like, at all. Everyone thought you went missing." Cocking her head, she asked, "Can I... help you? Did you want the pillow back?"

"Oh man," Clarissa laughed. Shaking her head, she sighed. "It's complicated. And reports of my demise were greatly exaggerated. I know you're going to school, but I want to convince you to skip out on it today. Can we talk? Maybe not in the doorway?"

"Um... sure. You must be freezing," Alex let her in, eyeing her with suspicion and concern; nobody in their right mind would wear a cyan tank top and red shorts in the middle of November. Shutting the door behind her, she followed the girl upstairs.

Clarissa chuckled, shaking her head as they climbed the stairs. "Nope. I've developed an appreciation for the cold," she calmly assured Alex as they made their way to Michael's room.

Clarissa took it in. His soccer flags were gone, his desk had been cleared, and his TV unplugged. The posters of his favorite action and kungfu movies left the walls baren. "Wow. Total reset," she acknowledged, genuinely impressed and terrified at how easy it was to just erase someone's presence like that.

"Are you here to just make me feel bad about everything again?" Alex immediately demanded. "Cause I'm-"

"No! No, no. Not that at all," Clarissa quickly assured her as she moved to his bed and sat down at the foot of it. "Please, Alex, believe me. I'm here to apologize."

"You never apologize," Alex reminded her, standing fast at the doorway.

Sighing, Clarissa hung her head. "I know. I'm sorry about that too." She patted the bed. "Please?"

Alex begrudgingly did so, placing the pillow back where she had grabbed it. Pulling up her right leg, she twisted her body to face Clarissa, who mirrored the pose. "Fine. What do you want?"

The coldness cut, but Clarissa was used to that. She'd been far better at it, too. "I want to apologize for how I've treated you, Alex," she told her, looking her right in the eyes. "I blamed you for Michael's death, and I now know that it was wrong. I should never have accused you of killing him. That was horrible of me to do. I am sorry, and I don't blame you anymore."

Eyes widening, Alex just sat there, dumbfounded.

Clarissa just sat there, feeling awkward. She offered a scrunched smile. "You don't have to believe me."

That broke Alex's trance. "I- um... no, yeah! Clarissa, I... I do. It's just... that's... really big of you to admit. I can see you've gotten better."

Shrugging, Clarissa decided, "I think it's time I try to be better, be more than I was before."

Nodding along, Alex agreed, "No, yeah, that's... that's a good thing. I'm just really caught off guard, is all. Like, I wasn't expecting such a one-eighty from you."

Smirking, Clarissa assured her, "Well, it's here to stay. Your brother found me charming enough. I think I can do better."

Alex thought about it for a bit. Finally, she had realized that there was a very large, missing piece to this puzzle. "What brought all of this on? Like, don't get me wrong. I'm not complaining. I just, this is so out of left field."

Smiling, Clarissa patted her on the leg. It was extremely awkward, and she immediately regretted it. "Um... I went through a lot on Tuesday. A good friend unexpectedly passed away, and she made me realize a lot about myself and how I treat others."

The awkward leg patting was immediately forgotten. Alex immediately regretted asking. "Shit."

Clarissa waved her hand away, dismissing it. "I finally got a good night's sleep last night. Don't worry about it. I was there when she passed, and she was happy with how things had worked out for her. I'm not happy about it, but she went out on her own terms. And I'll just have to make do."

Alex took a much needed, deep breath. "You're like this wise, old wizard. Or sage, or something," she breathed.

Laughing, Clarissa shot back, "I'm a year older than you! I'm really not okay with it. Losing Michael was bad enough. I really didn't think I'd lose someone else after that. Kinda made me realize how I can't get hung up on all the terrible things for too long. I'm managing. And I'm done moping around the house, that's for damn sure."

Alex just didn't have the words to deal with this happy and sad accident of a Friday. On the one hand, Clarissa was turning herself around and shaping up to be a nice person again; on the other hand, her friends were dying unexpectedly. It seemed like an unfair price to pay. "It's not like I wanted to clear out his room. My mom got remarried. I'm getting a new step-brother today," she explained, justifying why she had to erase Michael from the room.

Nodding, Clarissa offered a smile as she assured her, "I... heard about it. School gossip, y'know. I think you'll be a great sister to him. Michael thought the world of you."

Taking a labored breath, Alex shook her head. "I don't know why. I was never anything like him. He was the football star, the scholar, the leader. I always trailed behind. Pretty slowly, too," she remembered, tears welling up. Tests that she had failed, he had passed in his sleep. The rope climb in gym was an elevator for him, while she had always humiliated herself when falling. When he died, she did eventually get better, but that was just too high of a price to pay.

Clarissa called on her own, personal experience with the future. "Alex. I would never have looked for it on my own, but Michael showed me that you had a potential for greatness. I know you're doing better now, and you can do anything you set your mind to. I know Michael wanted to do mechanical engineering, but just 'cause it was his dream don't think you can't do it too."

Eyes widening, Alex tilted her head and wondered, "You really think I could be a mechanical engineer?"

Smirking, Clarissa nodded. "If you wanted to do it, you definitely could." Raising her hands in a mocking, defensive gesture, she assured the younger girl, "I'm not gonna tell you what to do. I mean, you won't even be graduating for another year. But let me at least tell you to not limit yourself."

Shrugging, Alex admitted, "I really don't know. I guess. But no promises."

"You have plenty of time to think about your future," Clarissa assured her. "Besides, I'm more focused on making tonight a great time for everyone!"

"Oh, right... I forgot that were doing a thing," Alex chuckled, wiping away what was left of the tears. "You're bringing the beer to the party tonight, then?" she joked.

"And let you and Nona get drunk and have unprotected sex? I think not!" she shot back, much to Alex's confusion. "She's this cute girl who thinks you're really cute. If you want my advice, I say you should go for it. She'll make you happy."

Alex was hit with yet another wave of words she just wasn't expecting. "I... I... wow, okay, thanks, but isn't she your friend? Like, I see her always eating with you."

"Yeah, that's Nona. And she thinks you're cute," Clarissa reminded her. "I'm telling you that a cute girl likes you, and I know you'll like her back, Alex. You should really trust me on this."

Scrunching her lips, Alex slowly nodded. "I- Yeah, okay. I'll take her out to coffee or something-"

Chuckling, Clarissa shook her head. "I actually have a better idea. Call Reginald, would you?" she requested, holding out her hand in anticipation. Alex did it, and she handed her phone over to Clarissa. "Thank you," she offered with a smile.

That was appreciated, and it was nice; but Alex was simply not used to Clarissa smiling. At her, of all people.

"Reginald! Hey! Wake up!" Clarissa shouted over the phone. "It's me, Clarissa! Get up, c'mon! Day's wasting away! You up? Good. Listen. Hey- hey! No, don't you go back to sleep, mister! You listening? Nona's gay... yeah, gay. Full on, straight up not straight. So you just gotta deal with it, man. Okay? Okay, now get dressed. And skip school- no- you- you were gonna do it anyways! Get up, take a shower, put on some deodorant, and get ready! ...Deodorant is not a shower!"

Alex was starting to get used to being at a loss for words. She jolted when Clarissa turned her attention back onto her.

"When does your step-brother fly in?" she quickly asked.

"Um, twelve. Twelve-fifteen!" Alex told her. "How did you know-"

Clarissa went back to the phone. "I'll pick you up at one-ish! Don't fall asleep! And don't eat!" she ordered, hanging up and handing the phone back to Alex. "I can't believe you were going to let him sit in the airport all day long!"

Scoffing, Alex crossed her arms. "I was going to go to school like a good student! What are you doing?"

Smiling, Clarissa hopped up. "Alex, I have spent an eternity feeling terrible. Today, that changes. We are going out to celebrate!"


	20. Chapter Twenty: Operation Clausewitz

"Jonas!" Clarissa called out to the young man. She vaguely remembered his handsome face at the start of that fateful night. He was distracted, on his phone, passing the time at the pickup zone in the airport. "You're Jonas, right?!" she asked as Alex got out and waved at him.

Jonas grabbed his bag and put his phone away. "Yeah, that's me. Don't say my name; you'll wear it out," he joked as he went up to Alex. "You're Alexandra?"

Smiling, Alex nodded. "Just Alex. Nice to meet you, Jonas. This is C- ...my friend, Clarissa," she introduced, trying to get over the awkwardness of their sudden turn of fortune.

Jonas, oblivious to that and so much more, gave her a smile and a wave, to which Clarissa confidently shook her head upwards at him in the universal "sup" greeting.

The two, new siblings were both very polite to each other and shook hands.

"Boooo!" Clarissa complained from her seat. With a grin, she demanded, "You two should hug! C'mon, I'm not unlocking the doors until you hug!"

Laughing, Jonas was more than happy to comply. Alex found the day to be very bizarre, but Jonas was a nice hugger. "I legit don't know what's gotten into her," she apologized, very quietly. "But she's taking us out to eat, so it's a free lunch."

"I don't think I'm gonna complain anytime soon," Jonas decided as he quickly tossed his bags into the trunk and piled into the back seat Alex scooted over to the middle seat.

"Sounds like a smart brother to me," Clarissa remarked. Heading out, she began to make her way through the small maze that was the airport. "Okay, kids. We're gonna break the ice with a game. It's called 'Five Things'. You, 'Five things,' five times and then hit someone with a prompt, and they have to answer it."

Scoffing, Jonas challenged, "I'm down."

"Oh boy," Alex groaned, running a hand through her long, teal hair.

"Fiiiive-things! Five-things, five-things, five-things! Five-things!" Clarissa chanted by herself. "Five things you do on the first date... Alex!"

"Shit!" Alex shouted in frustrated. She tried to come up with five things to do on a first date, but it was too late.

Jonas and Clarissa burst out into laughter, to which Alex had to laugh along. "You're a kinky girl, Alex!" Clarissa realized amidst their laughing. "C'mon, hit us with four more things!"

"Eat! Sleep! Ah- fuck! Wait! No! Not- damn it!" Alex laughed again, this time in unison with Jonas and Clarissa. "I'll just-! Go on a rollercoaster! Aaand climb a mountain!"

Clarissa had to focus on driving, but her stomach was starting to ache from all the laughing they were sharing in. She chanted "Five things!" five times, this time joined by Alex and Jonas. "Now Alex goes!" she announced.

"Five things you don't do at a wedding!" Alex shouted. "Uuuh, Jonas!"

Calming himself, Jonas managed to decide, "Kiss the bride! Kiss the groom! Uuuum... eat all the cake! Drink all the beer! Aah... Uuum... Kiss the priest!"

Pounding her steering wheel with her hands, Clarissa burst out into laughter, as did Alex. They all chanted "Five things" five times, and it was suddenly Clarissa's turn.

"Clarissa! Five things you do with a friend!" he challenged.

"Shit!" Clarissa yelled, wagging her finger back at Alex. Everyone laughed, but she warned, "We'll do it, just watch!" Laughing, she tried to compose herself. "Okay, uuum! Take 'em to dinner! Go shopping! Make out with 'em! Uuum, aaah! Invade the Soviet Union!" she hurriedly blurted out.

Alex hooted, "You go girl! Make the fuck out with them!"

"Just be sure to pack enough oil!" Jonas called out.

To that, Clarissa raised an eyebrow. Staring back at Jonas through her mirror, she gave a quick examination of him before chuckling, "I like this kid!"

Next stop was Nona's house. The three spent the remainder of the short car ride trading more quips before eventually settling into a more relaxed conversation on the pros and cons of console versus PC gaming. Alex defended her Nintendo to her dying breath, but Clarissa and Jonas double teamed her and kept the honor of the PC intact.

When Nona hopped into the passenger's seat, Clarissa made sure everyone got acquainted with each other. It was surreal for Clarissa. She'd spent more time watching Nona and Alex build a future together than the current versions had ever spent talking at all. She had to convince poor, introverted Nona to share her own opinions. Timid as she was, Clarissa was there to prod her on. Alex immediately developed an interest in Nona's passion for dancing, and she had to promise that she'd give Alex a live demonstration in the near future.

And finally, there was Reginald. "We're not going to the island?" he whined as he hopped into the back seat with Alex and Jonas, his disappointment immeasurable and his day ruined.

"Sorry," Nona offered with a small smile in the passenger's seat. "When this one makes up her mind, there's no changing it."

"I'm so, so sorry for giving everyone a free lunch!" Clarissa sarcastically apologized as she made her way to downtown.

The five of them quickly got into a fight on Superman beating Batman, with wild theories and multiple comic book citations from Jonas, Alex, and Nona.

And before they new it, they were parked. They'd made it all the way down to Sixth Street without realizing it, save for Clarissa who had it all planned out. Everyone piled out and looked around. The town was small; and downtown, while active, reflected the population. It had been a while since anyone had taken a trip here. The bars, restaurants, and stripmalls were slowly but surely starting to come alive for Friday. It was still half an hour before schools started tossing the children out. Alex was giving Jonas a quick history lesson on Camena as they stretched their legs.

Clarissa asked Nona to go inside and confirm their reservations. Nona found the proposition quite odd but complied. Satisfied, Clarissa quickly pulled Ren aside. "I'm running this show tonight, got it? You do as I say, and maybe we'll all do this again. Free food's good, isn't it?" she strongly suggested.

Sighing, Ren nodded and decided, "I remember. I can work with that."

Nodding, Clarissa smiled back. "Great. You don't make any moves on Nona. Zero. I get it, she's cute, but she's not for you. Feel free to make all the awkward jokes you want," she offered as Nona came back outside, thoroughly perplexed by the plan. "And bring me some pot brownies after Thanksgiving Break."

Clapping her hands together, Clarissa shouted, "Focus up, people! Alex has a new brother, we're gonna show him a great time, and the good times start right here!" She dramatically threw her hands out to the wooden plaque that hung from a pole, advertising a loaf of bread and a keg of beer. "The Loaf and Ale! It's Camena's only pub, the one spot of British culture! Tonight, we dine! After that, we drink!"

Though they found the choice of dining to be rather odd, they ultimately embraced it. The group entered and was seated in the corner, with two tabled stuck together to hold such a large group for a pub. The place was mostly empty; so it was able to offer a quiet backdrop for the smooth jazz that played over the speakers. All kinds of license plates, old timey photographs, and other Americana. Clarissa covertly positioned people to her liking. On one side, Nona and Alex sat together; Clarissa made sure Nona got squished into the corner, so that she'd only have easy access to Alex. She then had Ren sit on Alex's right. On the other side, Clarissa sat directly across from Nona, and Jonas joined her on her left. The group of unruly children were served menus, but firmly reminded that there would be no smoking or drinking. To that, Clarissa laughed and set about recommending Fish and Chips.

When the food arrived, Clarissa appreciated the effort that went into making it, but it never could hold a candle to Anna Shea's angelic cooking. Taking a deep breath, she took it all in. Nona and Alex had a nice, chatty conversation going, with Nona trying to explain how she danced and wanted to pursue that dream, and Alex eagerly listened and encouraged her. Simultaneously, Alex and Jonas traded suggestions on how to best use their time for entertainment, outside of diligent schoolwork of course. Nona made recommendations, and Alex eagerly made mental notes. Jonas suggested his own likings, and Alex readily accommodated him.

Concurrently, Clarissa found that she had left herself with no one to talk to, except for the young whippersnapper on her left. After some light conversation between bites, she asked, "So, Jonas. You enjoy a bit of history?"

Smirking, Jonas nodded, setting down his taco. "Kinda. I mostly enjoy the strategy games, but I am reading some stuff."

Raising her eyebrows, Clarissa nodded and asked, "Tell me, what do you know about Operation Barbarossa?"

Squinting, he smirked and suggested, "It was doomed to fail?"

"Really!" she laughed. Nodding, she thought about it. Leaning forward she promised him, "I gotta warn you now. We're gonna spend a lot more time together than I thought, Jonas."

Smiling back, Jonas leaned in to meet her and decided, "That might not be such a bad thing."

Clarissa pulled back. The night was young. So was she. She'd turned a lot around in the past thirty-six hours. She stood up and raised her glass of milk. "To Jonas! To Alex! To new beginnings, and new friendships! To being more than we were before!"

The group cheered in agreement and toasted with their cups of water and soda.

The night went on, Clarissa paid for the whole thing, the party left the pub, and she dropped Ren off first. She insisted that he had important stuff to do tomorrow, and he reluctantly agreed. Then she took everyone back to Alex's house. It was a quiet after party, in which Clarissa served up beer on her own dime. No one had any complaints about that. The group of four, jubilant and slowly getting drunk, naturally split off. Clarissa and Jonas saw that Nona and Alex were getting comfortable with each other, so they went outback for a much needed smoke break. He offered her a smoke, and she offered him her light.

As they took long, satisfying drags they blew their smoke high into the night sky, lit up by stars.

They talked for half an hour. Clarissa argued that the Wehrmacht could have captured Moscow. Jonas argued that the war would not have ended, just like with Napoleon. Clarissa sulked for a bit. Then she played her ace card. Yanking off his beanie, she ran her hand through his ruffled, brown hair.

"You must be freezing," Jonas observed with a smirk. But it was Clarissa's sensual touch that sent shivers down his spine. He couldn't think of any girl who would put the moves on him like this.

"Actually, I love the cold." She wrapped her arms around his shoulders. "And I think you're really cute. Are you gonna kiss me or what?"

Jonas tossed his cigarette and gently laid his hands on her cheeks. Running his right hand down her neck, across her bosom, he made his way down and wrapped it firmly on her butt. He positioned his left hand to keep his thumb on her cheek and used his fingers to grip the back of her head. She let him, and he pulled her in.

They were both firm in their grips, but their lips met in a soft, tender kiss. Massaging each other, they held their kiss for a while, heads bobbing and lips moving with each other. Their hands began to wander, and soon Clarissa found herself getting too charged up in the moment.

She pulled back. "Fuck!" she whispered. "You- wow. Okay, I did not think you were gonna be that good. But I'm gonna do this right. You- we aren't going any further... not tonight, okay? You and Alex are gonna get comfy before you and I get serious. And we will. There's no way in Hell I'm letting you go without trying."

She stared at him. He stared back. "I can't say I get it, but I'm not the sharpest crayon in the box either," he admitted.

Scoffing, she ran her hands back up to his face, gently tracing his jawline with her fingers. Going further up, she buried them into his hair and began to scratch, much to his pleasure. Satisfied with her prowess, she assured him, "I like you a lot. I don't want this to just be a thing. I know we just met, but I want to make it work. And you're a hot-blooded male. You'd be crazy to let a woman like me go, so you'd better put in a hundred percent too. Got it?"

Grinning, Jonas nodded. "Yes, ma'am."

Smirking, Clarissa pulled him in again. "But you _are_ gonna kiss me more."

"Yes, m- _mmm_."

 **THE END**

 **This is the first time I've ever started a book-length story and ended it completely. I began working on this idea in the spring of 2018, and now it's November 15, 2018! Yes, it's a small book, but it's my first completed project. That, is something I think is worth celebrating.**

 **And to commemorate it, I commissioned a talented artist to make cover art and chapter doodles for all 20 chapters! I'll post one more "chapter", a temporary alert that all of the art has been posted. Thanks for reading all of this! I hope you had fun reading Clarissa's little adventure. I sure had fun writing it!**

 **You can find this talented artist at kalloway dot deviantart dot com and kalloway dot tumblr dot com!**


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